Badge rules
Division games
Badges are facts about past picks, given by published rules. A badge is not a recommendation.
The rule
Picks in games between two teams of the same division, on one market: at least 8 decided, with a share at least 10 points above the field in the same category and more wins than losses.
- Holders now
- 4
- Window
- season
Picks that count. Picks we recorded before kickoff; picks whose time before kickoff was set by the publishing platform (timestamped by the publishing platform) or shown by a web archive copy of the page (archive record); and, for ESPN, CBS Sports and NFL.com, picks read after the game where the outlet's own published record for that expert matches our recount (per the outlet's published record). Any other pick read after the game can only lower a record, and any known loss ends a run. Levels (No.1, Top 3, Top 5, Top 10) use the live record only, from Week 6 of 2026 on.
Holders
| Holder | Badge | Since | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Richard CBS Sports | Division games · SU 14–7–1 · 2026 · field 48.9% Matches the outlet's published record | Oct 12, 2026 | Card |
| Tyler Sullivan CBS Sports | Division games · SU 13–8–1 · 2026 · field 48.9% Matches the outlet's published record | Oct 12, 2026 | Card |
| Brooke Cersosimo NFL.com | Division games · SU 13–8–1 · 2026 · field 48.9% Timestamped before kickoff (web archive copy)Matches the outlet's published record | Oct 12, 2026 | Card |
| Jamey Eisenberg CBS Sports | Division games · ATS 15–7 · 2026 · field 45.1% Matches the outlet's published record | Oct 12, 2026 | Card |
| Brooke Cersosimo NFL.com | Division games · ATS 14–8 · 2026 · field 45.1% Timestamped before kickoff (web archive copy)Matches the outlet's published record | Oct 12, 2026 | Card |
How common
Held now by 4 of the 73 forecasters in the badge count.
Our chance check (Oct 12, 2026): the same picks, with every game's score drawn again at random around the market line, 40 times. If a badge shows up about as often by chance as in the real record, it is a fact about the past, not a sign of skill.
Show as table
| Variant | Picks used | Qualifying | Held, real record | Held by chance, average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division games · ATS | all picks, including those read after the game | 12 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Division games · ATS · levels | all picks, including those read after the game | 12 | 2 | 4.8 |
| Division games · SU | all picks, including those read after the game | 23 | 3 | 1.9 |
| Division games · SU · levels | all picks, including those read after the game | 23 | 10 | 10.8 |
