‘NFL Rivals’ Tips Guide: How to dominate in the mobile NFT game

The new in-game season of NFL Rivals is right around the NFL kickoff, and with it comes 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 offers arcade-like entertainment on iOS and Android. It's a great way to entertain yourself during your Sunday TV break, assuming you're not looking to pretend like a full Madden.

But like any game, especially one where there's a chance to earn something of real-world value, it's not always easy to manage your time and make sure you're making the most of your opportunities along the way.

Luckily, we've played several NFL rivals in the build-up to the new season, and we've got a few tips to help you on and off the fantasy field.

Pass, pass, pass

Unless you have a team full of the best players in the league, your players in the NFL will tire quickly as soon as they catch the ball.

With limited speed strength, your player will feel second-rate, slow to crawl and easily fired. Going into the end zone from your own 20 in a game is rare because of this.

In that sense, it usually makes more sense if you don't have an amazing running back to pass the ball as much as possible. After all, if the ball is in the air, the player is not losing strength.

Go out for a TD

Likewise, you'll hit the 10-year line more often and have plenty of defenders ready to tackle you. They often bring you down before you score, if you dive for a touchdown from the seven yard line, you usually score the TD more often.

This only really works when you're crossing and defenders are chasing you, but if you don't have a mechanic that doesn't seem like it, it's a safe play that will get you a few extra yards and maybe even get you over the line.

Be selective with your opponents

In many leagues and events, you can choose which opponent you want to pick after showing their power level to see how close a match is. While it's tempting to pick an opponent above your power level for high rewards, the artificial difficulty is often too great.

Matches against teams around your level can be fairly easy to beat, while those with power a hundred or more above your own level can be a bit more challenging. But as soon as you go beyond that, defenders will cover your receiver like a hawk and drive every little way. So if you like to win, stick with teams at your level.

Improve your players.

This was probably mentioned in one of the many tutorial popups, but it took me a long time to figure it out: you can upgrade current players.

For players like me who don't buy NFT cards to play for free, this is actually one of the best ways to improve your team a little bit if you run out of free packs to claim, because you can use Points you get for each challenge for improving specific areas.

While the upgrades aren't huge stat boosts, they're still worth doing for your core players who might stick around for a while.

Top prizes are for top players.

If you're playing NFL Rivals in hopes of flipping some earned NFTs for a profit, but don't want to drop some cash on the game, your best bet is to try to climb the leaderboard in one of the limited events. These events usually pay out high-level and rare cards, and you don't need to be the best player in the world to claim one.

Most events have multiple iterations based on team level, so you only compete against players of the same level. If so, you may only have to grind for a few days to get to the top of the leaderboard. I played twice a day in the last event and finished in the top 350, so I don't think it's impossible to get some really cool rewards if you work for it.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.