Top 2023 NFL PickEm Contests: Play Beat TheLines FREE To Win $1500

The NFL season has fun ways to make your fandom even more fun, like watch parties, tailgating, and NFL pools. Both paid entry and free NFL PickEm contests are one of the most popular ways to create a little competition. Operators will give out big prizes too. In a football PickEm pool, each participant, or poolie, tries to predict the outcome of each week’s games. Each week during the NFL season, TheLines.com will have free contests with cash and gift card prizes at play.thelines.com.

Some of the best sports betting sites have also gotten in on the action by offering both paid entry and free NFL PickEm contests. Let’s look at some of the best ones for 2023.

TOP FREE NFL PICKEM CONTESTS

Beat TheLines Free Contest: Winner Gets $1500

We are offering a season-long long free NFL PickEm contest. You can sign up below and play for your share of a $5000 prize pool, with first place receiving $1500 in cash:

• 1st: $1500
• 2nd: $750
• 3rd: $500
• 4th: $375
• 5th: $250

All eligible users who finish with a higher season score than any member of TheLines.com team will win an entry into a private contest during the NFL Playoffs that features a $350 prize. The game is simple: pick five spreads each week and get points for each correct selection.

ESPN

Not only does ESPN have a popular fantasy football website, but they also are one of the top free NFL PickEm contests. They offer $92,000 in total prize money, and it’s entirely free to play. If you’ve played this contest before, they have revamped their platform for a better experience.

There are three options to choose from. "Standard" is picking teams every week to win their game. "Spread" is choosing which team covers the spread, while "Confidence" is when you rank your picks in order of how confident you are that they win. This extra element makes ESPN one of the top NFL PickEM contests. The prize pool is not as strong as the real money contests, but you can still win a nice chunk of cash here. You can even create groups to bet against your friends. Ultimately, ESPN is an excellent choice for a weekly NFL PickEm app.

CBS Sports

CBS is hosting one of the best pick’em contests out there. It’s free to play and has some lucrative prizes up for grabs. There’s a weekly $1,000 prize winner, a $5,000 season-long winner, and even a $100,000 jackpot prize. That means a total of $123,000 is up for grabs this year at no cost to you. You get 1 point per correct pick against the spread, and whoever has the most points of the week or year gets the prize. The jackpot prize will be tough to win. To win the jackpot, you must correctly pick the winner of each weekly game and guess the home and away scores of the two tie-breaker games.

That will be a tall order to win, but luckily, you don’t risk anything yourself. Feel free to make your picks without caution because you must go above and beyond to win the jackpot. Head to CBS to create a pool with your friends or join the big contest.

TOP REAL MONEY NFL PICKEM CONTESTS

DraftKings Sportsbook

DraftKings Sportsbook offers a fantastic online NFL PickEm Contest under the Pools section of its sportsbook app. Make five picks against the spread each week before 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. One bye week must be taken per entry. Picks will not be made during Week 18. This year's format offers four separate contests to cater to customers at different price points.

HOW Do NFL PICKEM Contests Work

Before we lay out the different PickEm contests available, here is how NFL Pickem works. There are two ways to run your PickEm contests, straight up or using point spread: 

• Straight up means that you will make your decisions based on the actual outcome of the games (who wins or loses). 
• A spread means that you will make your picks based on the difference in points between the two teams. For example, you might predict that your chosen team will win by at least a six-point margin.

Next, you’ll each need to make your picks for each week of the season. You can use any method to make your picks depending on which kind of PickEm format is most appealing and enjoyable. Once you’ve made your picks, you can sit back and enjoy the games! 

Every poolie will receive a single point (or a customized amount of points) for every correct pick during the football season. Your standing in your PickEm football pool will be calculated each week and year-to-date for each poolie’s total points. And if you’re lucky enough to have the most correct picks at the end of the season, you’ll be taking home the prize!

GAINING THE ADVANTAGE IN NFL PICKEM

PickEm pools can be a lot of fun, but they can also be quite competitive. If you’re looking to give yourself an edge over the competition, there are a few things you can do: 

• Familiarize yourself with each team’s strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention to which teams are playing well and which are struggling. 
• Don’t take risks for the sake of it. Although it’s always possible for an underdog to win, most PickEm pools are won by picking favorites.
• Ignore public sentiment. Don't change your picks because
• Don’t get too discouraged if you have a bad week or two. Standings are likely to fluctuate. 
• Check the injury report. Some key players may be inactive for their team’s game, which could have a significant impact on the outcome.
• Remember that the smaller your pool is, the less risky it is to take more significant risks.

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