The field for the NFL survivor pool continues to thin, and now Week 5 of the schedule features the first round of byes, which will have some players scrambling to find a suitable team to stay alive. Teams on their bye include the Falcons, Bears, Packers and Steelers. Among the SportsLine models biggest favorites to choose from this week are the Bills (-8.5), Lions (-8.5) and Cardinals (-8.5), although many survivor pool players have already used teams like the Bills and Lions already. 

The latest Week 5 NFL odds show six other games with a Week 5 NFL spread of 3.5 points or more, including 49ers vs. Rams (-5.5) on Thursday night, Vikings vs. Browns (+3.5), Texans vs. Ravens (-3.5), Raiders vs. Colts (-6.5), Broncos vs. Eagles (-3.5) and Buccaneers vs. Seahawks (-3.5). Those are the games many NFL survivor players will be targeting, but among those favorites, which ones bring the most value in NFL survivor pools? 

Before finalizing any Week 5 NFL survivor picks, see which team the red-hot SportsLine Projection Model just went all-in on.

The model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, is up well over $7,000 for $100 players on top-rated NFL picks since its inception. The model is on a sizzling 39-19 run on top-rated picks dating back to 2024. Anybody following its NFL betting picks at sportsbooks and on betting sites could have seen strong returns. The model can be used to crush the survivor pool format, which calls for picking one team to win each week but never using the same team twice. It survived through Week 1 by calling the Commanders over the Giants, Week 2 with the Ravens over the Browns, Week 3 with Bills over Dolphins and Week 4 with the Broncos over the Bengals.

Now, it has turned its attention to the latest Week 5 NFL schedule and locked in its Week 5 survivor pool pick. You can only see who the model is backing this week at SportsLine. 

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Top Week 5 NFL survivor pool predictions 

In Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season, the model is shying away from the Indianapolis Colts as they take on the Las Vegas Raiders. The Colts are 6.5-point and -290 money-line favorites, as one of the home favorites in the Week 5 lines, but are coming off a 27-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The Raiders, meanwhile, despite a 1-3 start, have shown improvement and are coming off a 25-24 loss to Chicago as a last-minute field goal attempt to win was blocked. 

Fading Indianapolis may also be part of a greater NFL survivor pool strategy, which sees the Colts play a struggling Titans team in a couple of weeks. The model projects the Colts to win 74% of the time, which is lower than other teams this week, making Indianapolis a team to avoid in NFL survivor pool picks. See which team to pick instead here. 

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How to make Week 5 NFL survivor pool picks 

Instead, the model is confidently backing a team many have not used in survivor pools to win outright in well over 70% of simulations. The time to pick this team is now, and you can only see the play over at SportsLine.

Which surprising team is a must-back in your Week 5 NFL survivor pool? Visit SportsLine now to see which team carries you to victory in Week 5, all from the advanced computer model that nails survivor picks and is up well over $7,000 since its inception.