NFL Survivor Pool Week 13 strategy: Avoiding Deshaun Watson's Browns debut, and breaking down every worthy option

All four of our main survivor options came through, and hopefully you used the Chicago injury situation and the QB change to Mike White to back the Jets, a team I thought should be favored by 10 with Justin Fields expected to miss the game. If you didn't trust the Jets in that situation, it's possible to use them again if they look respectable at Minnesota and Buffalo the next two weeks, but home matchups against the Lions and Jaguars are looking less appealing as those teams continue to improve.

Each week, I break down several options you should consider and lay out the other spots where you might end up wanting to use each team later in the season, along with your other options on those weeks. That format should allow you to tailor the advice specifically to the size of your survivor pool remaining as well as the teams you've already burned. There are a few clear options to use this week, but one I'd try to avoid is the Cleveland Browns.

The good news for the Browns is that they're up against one of the worst teams in the league in the Texans, who quickly fell behind 30-0 to the Dolphins last week before almost rallying to cover once Miami took the second half off. And they'll get theoretically a big QB upgrade in this game with Deshaun Watson's suspension finally over. But while Watson has proven to be one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league in the past, he hasn't played in a competitive game environment for almost two full seasons. If this was a game of Madden, I'd be perfectly fine trusting his talent wins out in that situation, but to me, there's just too much uncertainty in what he'll look like on Sunday after the massive layoff to back him to win on the road 13 weeks into survivor pools.

Why listen to me? Well, I'm 445-378-24 on against-the-spreads picks over the last five years and even better with my top five picks each week, going 329-250-21 (56.8%) over the last seven years in the Westgate SuperContest. While this doesn't involve picking against the spread, I do believe by applying the strategies I've developed to have long-term success on those picks to survivor pools, we'll be in the best position to outlast the competition.

What are the best options to use in survivor pools in Week 13? And which teams should be saved to use later in the season? ... Join SportsLine right now to see NFL Survivor Pool strategy from the expert who's 445-378-24 on ATS picks from 2017-21, returning $2,542 to $100 players!