The new in-game season of NFL Rivals is here alongside the NFL kickoff, and with it has come a wave of new and returning players hoping to play some mobile gridiron—and maybe earn a few valuable NFTs in the process.

As a mobile game, NFL Rivals delivers bursts of arcade-style fun on iOS and Android. It’s a good way to keep yourself entertained during the TV timeouts on Sundays, assuming you aren’t looking for a full Madden-like simulation.

But as with any game, especially those where there’s the potential to earn something with real-world value, it isn’t always easy to be efficient with your time and make sure you are making the most of your opportunities along the way.

Fortunately, we’ve played a ton of NFL Rivals in the build-up to the new season, and we have a few tips to share that might help you both on and off the virtual field. 

Pass, pass, pass

Unless you get a team full of the fittest players in the league, your players in NFL Rivals will tire very quickly as soon as they get hands on the ball.

With limited sprint stamina, as soon as your player has broken past the secondary, it will feel like they slow to a crawl and are easily chased down. Going from your own 20 to the end zone in one play is very rare as a result. 

Given that, it usually makes more sense—unless you have an amazing running back—to pass the ball as much as possible. After all, if the ball is in the air, then your player isn’t losing stamina. 

Dive for a TD 

On a similar note, you’ll frequently hit the 10 years line and have a swarm of defenders ready to tackle you. While they will often take you down right before scoring, if you dive for the touchdown from about the seven-yard line, you’ll usually score the TD more often than not.

This only really works when you have broken through and have defenders chasing you, but with seemingly no fumble mechanic, it’s a fairly safe play that should get you a few extra yards—and possibly get you over the line. 

Be selective with opponents

In a lot of the leagues and events, you can choose which opponent you want to take on after being shown their power level to see how close a match will be. While it’s tempting to pick an opponent way above your power level for higher rewards, the artificial difficulty spike is often massive.

Matches with teams around your level are usually easily winnable, while those within a hundred or so power above your own level can be a little challenging. But as soon as you go above that, defenders will cover your receiver like a hawk and pick off every slightly wayward pass. So if you like winning, stick to teams around your level. 

Upgrade your players 

This was probably mentioned in one of the many tutorial pop-ups, but it took me far too long to realize this: You can upgrade your current players. 

For free-to-play players like myself who aren't buying up NFT cards to gain an advantage, this is actually one of the best ways of slightly improving your team if you run out of free packs to claim, as you can use the points you earn for almost every challenge to upgrade certain positions. 

While the upgrades won't be massive stat boosts, they are still worth doing for your top players that are likely to stick around for a while. 

Top rewards go to top players 

If you are playing NFL Rivals in the hopes of flipping some earned NFTs for profit, but don’t fancy dropping some real cash on the game, then your best bet is to try to top the leaderboard in one of the limited time events. These events often pay out top-level and rare cards, and you don’t have to be the single best player in the world to claim one.

Most of the events have multiple iterations based on your team level, so you’ll only be competing against players at a similar level. In that case, you may just need to grind for a few days to get to the top of the leaderboard. In the last event, I played casually a couple of times a day and ended in the top 350 players, so reaching the very top rewards doesn’t feel impossible if you really work for it.

Edited by Andrew Hayward