How to Handle Late and Missed Picks Fairly in a Football Pool

Pick one deadline model

There are two common deadline models. In a single lock, every pick for the week locks at the first kickoff, which is simple and prevents anyone from seeing early results before picking later games. In a rolling lock, each game locks at its own kickoff, which is friendlier to people who forget but lets later pickers use information from earlier games.

For a curated slate where the win target matters, a single lock at first kickoff is usually fairest. For large casual pools, a rolling lock keeps more people in. Either works; switching mid-season does not.

Watch the early games

Thursday night NFL games, Friday college games and international games with morning kickoffs catch players every year. If an early game is on your slate, your deadline moves with it. Send a reminder the day before the first kickoff — automatic reminder emails remove most of these problems.

What a missed pick counts as

Decide in advance whether a missing pick is simply a loss, or whether a default applies — such as the home team or the favorite. Defaults feel generous, but they can let an absent player win a week they never played. Counting a missing pick as a loss is the most common and least disputed rule.

If a player misses an entire week, the same rule applies to every game. Do not enter picks on their behalf after kickoff, even if they swear they meant to pick the favorites.

Edits after lock

Commissioners sometimes need to correct an obvious data-entry error — a player who texted picks before kickoff that were typed in wrong. Keep evidence of the original submission time, make the change transparently, and tell the pool. Never change a pick because someone asks after seeing results.

• Accept corrections only with a pre-kickoff timestamp (text, email, screenshot).
• Announce any post-lock correction to the whole pool.
• Apply the same standard to yourself and your friends.

Postponed and cancelled games

Weather and emergencies occasionally move or cancel games. A clean rule: a game not completed during the scheduled week is removed from that week's slate, and win targets are reduced by one if needed. Write this down before it happens.