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Week 17 has some great matchups with playoff implications in both conferences. Neither has a set No. 1 seed and the wild card standings are a toss up. We will also see a few teams who don't want to win as they compete for a better pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Texans and Bears are likely to have the No. 1 and No. 2 pick in this years draft, but it could get interesting. The Broncos don’t have their pick as they traded it away for Russell Wilson. They will be everything they can do to win the last two games. They would love to have a top five pick right now. The Colts are another team to watch for tanking. I don't see them catching anybody in the top three, but they want a quarterback bad and want to try and get in the top three.
An interesting pick right now would be the Panthers. They would have the No. 8 pick, but because the AFC South has been so bad, they have a shot at making the playoffs. Midway through the season, it seemed they were rebuilding and would try to get a quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft, but Sam Darnold has played decent and they would rather make the playoffs it seems. A playoff berth would drop them out of the top 18 picks.
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The Texans and Bears both lost, which means the No. 1 pick will be decided in the final week of the regular season. The Texans are guaranteed a top two pick, while Chicago could still drop to fourth if they win. The big change in the early window was the Patriots and Lions moving into the final wild card berth in each conference, which moved them out of the top 18 picks. The Dolphins and Commanders moved out of the playoff standings and into the top 18 picks.
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The Seahawks beat the Jets, which moved them into the final NFC wild card berth for the time-being. That moves the Lions out of the playoff spots in the draft order. The Seahawks, Lions, and Packers are all competing for that final berth. In the AFC, the Raiders lost to the 49ers and were officially eliminated from playoff contention. They currently have the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Here’s the complete 2023 NFL Draft order. The first 18 picks are teams that would currently miss the playoffs. A division leader has a lower draft position than a non-playoff or wild card team with a better record because of the nature of playoff seeding. SOS serves as the tiebreaker and comes via Tankathon.
- Houston Texans, 2-13-1, .485
- Chicago Bears, 3-13, .566
- Denver Broncos (Seahawks have pick), 4-12, .485
- Arizona Cardinals, 4-12, .526
- Indianapolis Colts, 4-11-1, .507
- Los Angeles Rams (Lions have pick), 5-11, .517
- Atlanta Falcons, 6-10, .470
- Las Vegas Raiders, 6-10, .471
- Carolina Panthers, 6-10, .474
- New Orleans Saints (Eagles have pick), 7-9, .502
- Tennessee Titans, 7-9, .504
- Cleveland Browns (Texans have pick), 7-9, .520
- New York Jets, 7-9, .532
- Washington Commanders, 7-8-1, .540
- Pittsburgh Steelers, 8-8, .526
- Green Bay Packers, 8-8, .528
- Detroit Lions, 8-8, .535
- Miami Dolphins (Forfeit pick due to tampering), 8-8 .541
- Seattle Seahawks, 8-8, .465
- Jacksonville Jaguars, 8-8, .471
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8-8, .502
- New England Patriots, 8-8, .504
- New York Giants, 9-6-1, .522
- Baltimore Ravens, 10-6, .504
- Los Angeles Chargers, 10-6, .434
- Cincinnati Bengals, 11-4, .531
- Minnesota Vikings, 12-4, .482
- Dallas Cowboys, 12-4, .506
- San Francisco 49ers (Broncos have pick), 12-4, .414
- Buffalo Bills, 12-3, .509
- Kansas City Chiefs, 13-3, .452
- Philadelphia Eagles, 13-3, .478