All right, everyone. It is time to step back off the ledge. The Miami Dolphins entered Week 11 riding a two-game winning streak, which had seen their odds to finish with the top pick go from about 2 in 3 to 1 in 5. So the pursuit of the top pick? Throw it on ice — because the Dolphins will have to lose out in order to get to that juncture and the Bengals will need to find another win hiding on their schedule aside of a hypothetical win over the Dolphins.
And after some positive run by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans, Dolphins fans began to stress, seeing each of the team’s three first-round draft picks swell to the top of the charts. But all three teams lost this weekend. And some critical competition also won — which has aided the Dolphins’ first-round picks greatly. Let’s get a few more weeks like this one and go from there, shall we?
Here’s where Miami’s picks currently stand:
Miami’s Pick: 4th overall
Business as usual here. The Giants, Redskins and Bengals sit ahead of the Dolphins. Cincinnati is winless at 0-10, the Redskins are 1-9 and the Giants, like the Dolphins, are 2-8 — but the Giants have a softer strength of schedule.
If you like promising foreshadowing, here’s some for you: The Dolphins still have to play the Giants. The Redskins? They play the Giants the following weekend. And Washington also plays a Lions team that is without Matt Stafford and 1-6 in their last seven games. The Bengals still need to play the Jets and Dolphins.
There are 3-4 wins left to be divided among this top four in the order … some of them guaranteed to go to teams other than Miami.
Pittsburgh’s Pick: 15th overall
The Steelers fell to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football and lost center Maurkice Pouncey for the next three games. Mercifully for the Dolphins, the NFL decided not to suspend QB Mason Rudolph, too — who looked completely lost for the Steelers on Thursday night.
RB James Conner is banged up and so is WR JuJu Smith-Schuster. Can Minkah Fitzpatrick play wide receiver?
The Steelers sit at 5-5 and play the Bengals this weekend. We are all Bengals fans.
Houston’s Pick: 25th overall
The Texans got absolutely destroyed by the Baltimore Ravens this weekend — like almost as bad as the Dolphins’ loss to Baltimore levels of bad. And that’s great news, given what the postseason forecast holds for the Texans.
But that’s not even the best news. The Texans and Colts are tied atop the AFC South rankings at 6-4 (…why did Miami have to win that game in Week 10?!) and the Oakland Raiders also sit at 6-4 – and out of the playoffs as things currently stand.
Could the Texans miss the playoffs? They’re in for now on tiebreakers, but it is possible this pick could climb even higher.
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