Tag: 2025 NFL Draft order

Day after Shedeur Sanders shows off Giants cleats, New York drops 3 spots in Draft order

Saturday Shedeur Sanders was showing off New York Giants cleats. Sunday the Giants won and dropped from being in line for the top pick.

Shedeur Sanders may be a bit too much online. A few weeks ago — when the Raiders were in line for the top pick — he was teasing everyone on social media with silver and black stuff and talking about how great Allegiant Stadium is.

Then the Raiders beat the Jaguars in week 16 and dropped out of position for the top pick and were replaced by the New York Giants.

Not coincidentally, on Saturday, Sanders was showing off a pair of red, white and blue New York Giants cleats prior to Colorado facing off against BYU in the Alamo Bowl

The Buffalo would get trounced by the Cougars 34-14, by the way.

The next day, on Sunday, the Giants went out and beat the Colts, dropping New York from their catbird seat in line for the first overall pick all the way to fourth overall, behind the Patriots, Titans, and Browns who all have lower Strength of Schedule than the Giants.

I’m not suggesting Sanders’s teasing is the kiss of death for the team in line for the top pick. But perhaps that he should stop with the teasing and just, you know, go about his business. He might look a bit less foolish. Not to mention like he’s more serious about football than social media or just being taken first overall.

6 games today Raiders fans should have rooting interest

Some games have already been played week 17, including three games on Wednesday and Thursday and three which were flexed to Saturday. Of the three Saturday games, only one went the way the Raiders would have wanted – the Bengals beat the Broncos. …

Some games have already been played week 17, including three games on Wednesday and Thursday and three which were flexed to Saturday.

Of the three Saturday games, only one went the way the Raiders would have wanted — the Bengals beat the Broncos. But the other two weren’t great for the Raiders. The Chargers put a beatdown on the lowly Patriots and the Rams beat the Cardinals. You want the Patriots to get a win and the Chargers to lose for strength of schedule reasons. You want the Rams to lose for the same reason.

Those game results actually raised the Raiders Strength of Schedule from .544 to .547, keeping them at sixth in the draft order.

The Raiders game will be Sunday in New Orleans, but that’s not the only game Raiders fans should be focusing on Sunday.

Here are the other games Raiders fans should feel some kind of way about because they could affect where the Raiders end up selecting atop the 2025 NFL Draft.

Root for: Giants

The Giants (2-13) are the only team with a worse record than the Raiders (3-12) and they are also the only team currently in the top six projected draft order with a higher Strength of Schedule. Which means if they win, they would drop out of the projected top spot and all the way to six, behin the Raiders.

Odds: Colts -7.5

News: Colts starting QB Anthony Richardson has been ruled OUT for the game, which would seem to give the Giants a chance. He will be replaced by 39-year-old Joe Flacco.

Root for: NY Jets

The Jets are sitting at 4-11 on the season, which means if they lose this week and the Raiders beat the Saints, the Jets will be in line for a higher pick. While a win by the Jets would lower their pick in the third round which the Raiders own, the top of the draft is far more important. Not that is matters much because the Jets would figure to have a snowball chance in Hell of taking out the Bills in Buffalo.

Odds: Bills -10

Root for: Panthers

The interest here could be two-fold. What you get with a Panthers win would be the Panthers’ fifth win, which moves them out of the way in case the Raiders pick up their fourth win. It also could offer the Panthers confidence enough in Bryce Young to stick with him next season and thus remove them from those teams vying for a QB this offseason.

Odds: Buccaneers -8

Root for: Titans

This one is kind of good for the Raiders either way. But better for them if the Titans win. Both teams have three wins, so whichever wins the game, would drop out of the top five in the draft order where both teams currently sit. However, the Titans will be in the market for a quarterback and the Jaguars will not be. For that reason alone, it’s in the Raiders interest not to have them ahead of them in the draft order and a win could do that. It carries the bonus of lowering the Raiders SOS and raising the Jaguars’.

Odds: Titans -1

Root for: Browns

The Browns have the same record as the Raiders right now and present a major threat to them in terms of their QB needs. Deshaun Watson has been a huge bust there and they will be looking to protect their interests this season.

Odds: Dolphins -3

News: Tua Tagovailoa is Doubtful for the game, which means Tyler Huntley is expected to start for the Dolphins, giving the Browns a shot at the upset. Especially with the game in Cleveland.

Root for: Commanders

The Raiders faced the Falcons this season. They have not faced the Commanders. for that reason a Commanders win would lower the Raiders SOS. It would also raise the SOS of the Giants, Browns, Bears, and Titans.

Odds: Commanders -3.5

Antonio Pierce has message on Raiders win despite draft position drop

For those who were hoping the Raiders would tank, head coach Antonio Pierce has a message — The only thing that matters is winning.

After ten straight losses, the Raiders found themselves in striking distance of the number one overall pick in the draft. Though, to get it, they would have to keep losing.

They didn’t do that Sunday, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 19-14 to halt the losing streak. On the flip side, the win drops them from being in position for the top pick to facing the sixth overall pick.

While many fans may be thinking about the future and getting a franchise quarterback atop the draft, the players on this team now as well the coaches are not thinking about that at all. They are thinking about the opponent in front of them.

Pierce was asked about what he says to those fans who want the Raiders to lose for draft position, he said “no comment”. But with his next answer, he gave that message.

“Look, we work 80 hours a week. Staff, players come in here 40+ hours to work. We don’t do this to lose,” said Pierce. “We don’t do this for anybody’s fantasy football team or somebody’s draft projections. None of that s–t matters to us. The only thing that matters is winning. And that’s all we want to do.”

So, for the first time since September — a stretch of nearly three months — the Raiders woke up after a win. They may not be celebrating it much being that the season is long since lost, but it’s certainly a better feeling than watching the losses continue to stack up.

Raiders tumble in draft order following Week 16 win over Jaguars

One win takes the Raiders from being in line for the top pick to out of the top five.

There are a lot of bad teams in the NFL this season. Way too many, in fact. And it figures because even with the Raiders getting their first win after a ten-game losing streak, they find themselves suddenly out of range of the top five.

In most seasons, three wins would be good for a top three pick. Last year it would have been enough for the second overall pick. And in 2022 it was bad enough for the number one overall pick. But this year it’s possible three wins may not even get you a top five pick.

That’s where the Raiders find themselves now. Their third win along with their strength of schedule puts them in line for the sixth overall pick according to Tankathon.com. Strength of schedule is in parenthesis.

1. Giants 2-13 (.555)
2. Patriots 3-12 (.463)
3. Jaguars 3-12 (.480)
4. Titans 3-12 (.512)
5. Browns 3-12 (.532)
6. Raiders 3-12 (.543)
7. Panthers 4-11 (.498)

Granted the season is not over yet. There are two more games left and anything can happen. But the Raiders are no longer in control of their own destiny in terms of getting the top spot or even the top two.

They need a quarterback more than most teams in the league and this draft is not deep at the position. So, if they want one, some things will have to change in this projection over the final two weeks of the season.

The Raiders final two games are at the New Orleans Saints (5-9) and the finale at home against the Los Angeles Chargers (9-6) in the finale.

Cowboys wild win over Buccaneers moves 49ers up 2025 NFL draft order

Sunday wasn’t all bad for the 49ers…

Week 16 wasn’t good for the San Francisco 49ers.

They were officially eliminated from the playoffs before their game against the Miami Dolphins even kicked off, and then they faceplanted against the Dolphins in an ugly 29-17 defeat.

On the other hand, with all eyes officially turned toward the 2025 season, we can immerse ourselves fully in the race for the best draft picks. In that regard, Sunday couldn’t have gone much better for San Francisco.

They entered the week holding on to the No. 15 overall pick, behind a slew of other 6-8 teams thanks to the strength of schedule tiebreaker that gave them the worst pick of those 6-8 clubs.

However, the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts both won their games Sunday morning. Then the Dolphins beat the 49ers to move the 49ers further up the draft board.

Then the Dallas Cowboys swung an upset Sunday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a wild game where the Cowboys nearly smoked a nine-point lead with less than three minutes to go.

By defeating Tampa Bay 26-24, the Cowboys became the fourth of five 6-8 teams to win, moving the 49ers all the way up to No. 11 in the 2025 NFL draft, just behind the 5-9 New Orleans Saints who face the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football.

Here’s the updated draft order through Sunday night with projected full-season strength of schedule as the tiebreaker.

2025 NFL draft order

1. New York Giants (2-13)
2. New England Patriots (3-12)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12)
4. Tennessee Titans (3-12)
5. Cleveland Browns (3-12)
6. Las Vegas Raiders (3-12)
7. Carolina Panthers (4-11)
8. New York Jets (4-11)
9. Chicago Bears (4-11)
10. New Orleans Saints (5-9)
11. San Francisco 49ers (6-9)
12. Miami Dolphins (7-8)
13. Indianapolis Colts (7-8)
14. Cincinnati Bengals (7-8)
15. Dallas Cowboys (7-8)
16. Arizona Cardinals (7-8)
17. Seattle Seahawks (8-7)
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-7)

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Raiders-Falcons final score helped 49ers 2025 NFL draft position

The 49ers needed that Flacons win over the Raiders on Monday.

The San Francisco 49ers’ postseason hopes are over, which means each week now becomes about where they land in the 2025 NFL draft order.

By virtue of missing the playoffs, the 49ers have secured at least a top-18 pick. Losing Thursday helped their draft pick, but it took until Monday night for the 49ers to ensure they’d get into the top 15 after 15 weeks.

Because they hold an extremely high strength of schedule, the likelihood the 49ers will get a better pick in a tiebreaker is low, so getting clear of the slew of other 6-8 teams is crucial if the club is to maximize its pick in next year’s draft. That’s why the Las Vegas Raiders’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday helped San Francisco.

With Atlanta’s 15-9 win over the Raiders, they moved to 7-7 and snapped a four-game losing skid. Had the Raiders won, the Falcons have been 6-8 and above the 49ers in the draft because of the tiebreaker. Alas, the 49ers are now slated to pick No. 15 overall because they leapfrogged the victorious Falcons in the order.

Here’s what the NFL draft order looks like with three games to go:

1. Las Vegas Raiders (2-12)
2. New York Giants (2-12)
3. New England Patriots (3-11)
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-11)
5. Carolina Panthers (3-11)
6. Tennessee Titans (3-11)
7. Cleveland Browns (3-11)
8. New York Jets (4-10)
9. Chicago Bears (4-10)
10. New Orleans Saints (5-9)
11. Miami Dolphins (6-8)
12. Indianapolis Colts (6-8)
13. Cincinnati Bengals (6-8) 
14. Dallas Cowboys (6-8)
15. San Francisco 49ers (6-8)
16. Atlanta Falcons (7-7)
17. Arizona Cardinals (7-7)
18. Seattle Seahawks (8-6)

Given the logjams in the top and middle of the first round, there’s a ton that could change over the next few weeks. The 49ers still face the Dolphins and Cardinals in two of their final three games, and both will be massive in determining how the 2025 NFL draft order shakes out.

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How 49ers win over Bears affected the 2025 NFL draft order

For you NFL draft sickos

The San Francisco 49ers still have an outside shot to make the NFL playoffs, but as their chances dip despite a blowout win over the Chicago Bears, it’s easy to turn an eye toward the 2025 NFL draft.

It looked like the 49ers might be on track for a top-10 pick after consecutive losses to the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills.

However, they righted their ship Sunday against Chicago and careened back down the draft order where the rest of the playoff hopefuls reside.

San Francisco entered the week holding the No. 14 overall pick in the rear of a cluster of 5-7 teams. Now they’re sitting at 6-7 alongside their NFC West rivals. At No. 17 overall the 49ers are one spot ahead of the Los Angeles Rams and one spot behind the Arizona Cardinals.

Here’s the 2025 NFL draft order based on the full-season strength of schedule tiebreaker:

1. Las Vegas Raiders (2-11)
2. New York Giants (2-11)
3. New England Patriots (3-10)
4. Carolina Panthers (3-10)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-10)
6. Tennessee Titans (3-10)
7. New York Jets (3-10)
8. Cleveland Browns (3-10)
9. Chicago Bears (4-9)
10. New Orleans Saints (5-8)
11. Cincinnati Bengals (5-8)
12. Dallas Cowboys (5-8)
13. Miami Dolphins (6-7)
14. Indianapolis Colts (6-7)
15. Atlanta Falcons (6-7)
16. Arizona Cardinals (6-7)
17. San Francisco 49ers (6-7)
18. Los Angeles Rams (7-6)

Ties come down to strength of schedule where the team with a worse strength of schedule gets the more favorable pick. Of the five 6-7 teams, the 49ers are on track to have the best strength of schedule and thus land the worst pick among that group.

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Several week 14 results great for Raiders spot in 2025 NFL Draft

It was not a good Sunday for the Raiders team on the field in Tampa. But for the Raiders organization’s hopes of having the highest pick possible in April’s Draft, it was another story. With the loss to the Buccaneers, the Raiders now sit at 2-11 on …

It was not a good Sunday for the Raiders team on the field in Tampa. But for the Raiders organization’s hopes of having the highest pick possible in April’s Draft, it was another story.

With the loss to the Buccaneers, the Raiders now sit at 2-11 on the season. And as of now, there is one less team across the league with the same record.

While the Raiders were losing to the Bucs in Tampa, the cross-state Jaguars were in Tennessee beating the Titans. The Jags now sit at 3-10 on the season, putting them a game behind the Raiders at the top of the draft order.

This leaves just the Raiders and Giants as the only remaining two-win teams. And with a weaker Strength of Schedule (SOS), that means the Raiders currently are in line for the number one overall pick.

One other result was great news for the Raiders — the Dolphins come-from-behind win over the Jets in overtime.

Why is this game good news for the Raiders? Well, because the Raiders own the Jets’ third round pick from the Davante Adams trade. So, the worse the Jets are, the higher that pick will be. The loss drops the Jets to 3-10 on the season.

And so long as the Raiders don’t win more games than the Jets the rest of the way, the Jets will remain behind them at the top of the draft.

49ers inching toward top 10 pick in 2025 NFL draft

It might be high time to look ahead to the 2025 NFL draft. We’ve got you covered:

The San Francisco 49ers’ playoff chances aren’t completely erased, but they’re low enough that looking toward next year’s offseason and NFL draft aren’t unreasonable.

If the 49ers win a couple of games down the stretch and put themselves squarely back in the playoff picture, we can start looking at that group again. For now we’ll look at where things stand with next year’s draft, where the 49ers are inching toward a top-10 pick after three consecutive losses put them at 5-7 for the season.

San Francisco is one of four seven-loss teams, and they’re just behind a trio of eight-loss clubs. There was a chance for a fourth eight-loss team, but the Cleveland Browns couldn’t hold on vs. the Denver Broncos on Monday night and fell to 3-9.

Here is what the draft order looks like for the non-playoff teams after 13 weeks according to Tankathon:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-10)
2. Las Vegas Raiders (2-10)
3. New York Giants (2-10)
4. New England Patriots (3-10)
5. Carolina Panthers (3-9)
6. New York Jets (3-9)
7. Tennessee Titans (3-9)
8. Cleveland Browns (3-9)
9. Cincinnati Bengals (4-8)
10. New Orleans Saints (4-8)
11. Chicago Bears (4-8)
12. Miami Dolphins (5-7)
13. Dallas Cowboys (5-7)
14. San Francisco 49ers (5-7)
15. Indianapolis Colts (6-7)
16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-6)
17. Los Angeles Rams (6-6)
18. Arizona Cardinals (6-6)

The first tiebreaker is strength of schedule, which is the combined winning percentage of a team’s opponents. The team with the worst strength of schedule gets the earlier pick.

San Francisco has the highest strength of schedule and gets the lowest pick of the trio of 5-7 teams.

Sunday’s game against the Bears could be a big one for the 49ers in terms of their draft position. The 49ers will certainly be trying to win every game, especially while they’re technically not eliminated from the playoffs. However, the further their season spirals, the closer they’ll get to securing a top 10 pick that can help them retool for the 2025 season.

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With assist from old pal, Raiders now have no one-win teams ahead of them in draft order

A slew of two-win teams now battle for the top of the draft order now with both one-win teams win Sunday.

The Raiders badly need a win. They didn’t get one on their own on Sunday against the Bengals, losing their fifth straight game to fall to 2-7 on the season. But they got a win of sorts in another way. And they got it with a little help from an old friend.

Coming into today, there were two one-win teams in the league — the Panthers and Titans. Both teams won, which means every team in the NFL has at least two wins.

The Titans outlasted the Patriots in OT while Derek Carr and the Saints gave the Panthers their second win.

The former Raiders QB made some history in the process. A couple bits of history, in fact. Neither of which were the good kind.

Carr went 18 for 31 for 236 yards and a touchdown. He got 155 yards on the ground from Alvin Kamara, a rushing TD from Tayson Hill, and the defense had a takeaway. And he somehow couldn’t parlay into a win.

So, the Raiders — and several other two-win teams across the league — thank you for your service and sacrifice, Derek, in removing the Panthers from the ranks of the one-win teams and opening it up for the slew of two-win teams to control their own destiny for the top pick. Which, as it happens, also includes the 2-7 Saints.