Eleven teams have punched their ticket to the playoffs with one week to go in the regular season. Meanwhile, the Colts, 49ers, Chargers, Saints, Raiders, Steelers, and (technically) Ravens all still have a shot. If you’re a fan of one of the other 14 teams, this list may be of equal interest to you. That is, if your team still owns their original first-round pick.
For non-playoff teams, the draft order will be determined by the inverted 2021 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. For playoff teams, the order is determined by their postseason outcome and regular season record.
As we look ahead to Week 18, here’s a look at the currently projected 2022 NFL Draft Order:
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 2-14
- Detroit Lions: 2-13-1
- Houston Texans: 4-12
- New York Jets: 4-12
- New York Giants: 4-12
- Carolina Panthers: 5-11
- New York Jets (via Seahawks)
- New York Giants (via Bears)
- Washington Football Team: 6-10
- Atlanta Falcons: 7-9
- Denver Broncos: 7-9
- Minnesota Vikings: 7-9
- Cleveland Browns: 7-9
- Philadelphia Eagles (via Dolphins)
- New Orleans Saints: 8-8
- Baltimore Ravens: 8-8
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 8-7-1
- Las Vegas Raiders: 9-7
- Philadelphia Eagles: 9-7*
- Los Angeles Chargers: 9-7*
- Philadelphia Eagles (via Colts)*
- Miami Dolphins (via 49ers)*
- New England Patriots*
- Arizona Cardinals: 10-5*
- Buffalo Bills: 10-6*
- Cincinnati Bengals: 10-6*
- Dallas Cowboys: 11-5*
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 12-4*
- Kansas City Chiefs: 11-5*
- Detroit Lions (via Rams): 12-4*
- Tennessee Titans: 11-5*
- Green Bay Packers: 13-3*
* = Playoffs
Giants were two plays away from having 4 and 6. Bears 2 pointer against Seattle and the Jets losing to the Bucs.
And if the queen had balls she’d be the king. Giants could easily have won some games earlier this year that would have changed their draft position like the dc game they gave away or the dropped interception against atl. The chips fall where they may
Jesus, dude. Chill out. Just talking about the possibilities. I’m a Giants fan and we have almost nothing to else to get excited about. What an absurd reaction.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Giants do. I hope they don’t trade back with either of those top picks but I understand if they do move one for more capital. Considering it’s a relatively weak QB class I think they should use both top ten picks on non QBs to add major talent to other positions and use next year as Jones’ prove it year. If he fails probably still gonna end up drafting top ten next year to go after a qb.
I would the Giants not be better served using one of their picks and trading one into next year for some serious trade capital instead? No quarterback worth taking this year, gives them one more year to see if Jones can be the guy, and would give them more ammo next year in the event either they like what they see from Jones this year to add more talent, or if they don’t like what they see from Jones in ‘22, it would give them more ammo to maneuver towards the next quarterback?
Houston should trade back from #3.
Round 1 they should walk away with Chris Olave or Jameson Williams
Round 2 they should walk away with Isian Spiller or Kenneth Walker
Round 3 they should beef up the oline and grab another WR, They have a couple 3rd rounders.
Build the team around Davis Mills. Fix oline, wr core, and rb room.
Trade Watson and trade the #3 pick.
I don’t entirely disagree, but this might be a hard draft to trade down in and come away with a lot of value.
A team with that many holes should not be spending a top 40 pick on a running back. Maybe they could take whichever of the best running backs falls to the top of the third, but they have bigger fish to fry. If they can’t trade back in the first round, top of the second would likely be a good place to find a solid receiver.
Never draft “need” always draft value. Drafting a workhorse RB in the 2nd makes more sense than paying for one in FA or over drafting lesser talent later on in the 3rd or 4th. Dalvin Cook, Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb, Cam Akers, JK Dobbins, Joe Mixon, Jonathan Taylor, Javontae Williams, Deandre Swift – a lot of starting RBs in this league were taken in the 2nd. Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Chargers, Eagles, Falcons, Saints, Bucs, Seahawks could all very well be taking RBs in the 2nd.
Texans can fill holes via FA. They’ve got something like 38 mill in cap space. More if they trade Watson, Cooks.
Elijah Mitchell. 6th round. I agree with the draft need belief.
So was Garret Brightwell, Larry Roundtree, Chris Evans, Demetric Felton, Khalil Herbert.
Kyle Shannahan’s system is much like his fathers. Very running back friendly. How many 1,000 yard backs did Shannahan have in denver? Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns, Tatum Bell
Just because many of the best RBs in football were drafted in the first or second round doesn’t mean those draft picks are great value. Running back is also the non special teams position where you’re most likely to find a good starter or even star after the second round. Heck, it’s the position where you’re most likely to have a starter who wasn’t even drafted. And how many of those guys you mentioned have particularly helped their teams win? Running backs are also more likely to get hurt than any other position. Two of the guys you cited from last year’s draft missed all of this year. Meanwhile, second contracts show us that running backs just aren’t valued as highly as other positions, so the bargain isn’t as great if you do hit on a pick.
It’s one thing to take a second round running back if you’re close to competitive and have a pretty deep roster. The Broncos, for instance, already had two strong pass rushers, a solid offensive line, a lot of secondary talent, and a stocked set of pass catchers when they took Williams. The Texans are not in that position.
@Oooof You coulda just said “The Giants drafted Saquon” and saved yourself a ton of typing lol
I mean, the subject was second round RBs. If you haven’t figured out by now that first round RBs are a bad idea, well, oooof.
Hard disagree that you should never take a RB in the first round. If the talent is there and you have a need, you do it. A solid ground game makes life a lot easier on your QB.
As for the injury thing, any player could get hurt. Non-factor, in my opinion. Taking a RB 1st round gives you the fifth year of control, too. That pushes off the second contract decision.
I think there are times it can make sense.
Niner fan here. Needed edge rusher BADLY then drafted Nick Bosa. Instant star. Out his second year with knee injury. So, I agree, draft for need, especially if that player is also of HIGH value BUT that season ending injury can come at ANY position, as AppOutlaw stated
Any player could get hurt, but running backs get severely injured far more frequently than other positions. And the fifth year option is less of a bargain for running backs, because running backs aren’t worth as much on the open market. CEH, for instance, will cost something like $8 million on his fifth year option, which would be an overpay for a good not great back on the open market, whereas if they had taken Higgins or Pittman, just to name two guys taken right afterward at a more valuable position, that same option would look like a great bargain right now compared to what you’d expect those guys to get as free agents.
“i dont like the fact majority of the best running backs in the league are 2nd round picks, ignore that fact!”
all names mentioned have given their team great value when healthy.
any draft pick is a risk. but to outright avoid drafting 1st round talent in the 2nd round cause of position is stupid.
we see it every year. the teams that can run the ball in the 4th are the ones that have a chance to win it all. people can devalue the rb position all they want but when it comes to the 4th if you cant run it teams lose more often than not.
You ignored the part where even some of the guys you cited as good outcomes have missed roughly half their games in the NFL. And it’s not like you mention guys like Kerryon Johnson or Jeremy Hill or plenty of other second rounders who’ve returned very little value. And great running games usually have more to do with offensive lines and schemes than they do with some singular running back talent. You also ignore just how many of the best running games prominently feature running backs who were drafted lower or cost next to nothing every single year.
PFR Team – Something interesting would be an article on draft positioning scenarios for next weeks games as a lot of teams have similar win totals. I.e. if SEA wins how does that affect the jets second pick etc.
Maybe also with playoff scenarios?? Just some thoughts, thanks for your hard work
Looks like Houston needs to trade Watson to the Giants so they can get the best value for the picks they get back.
If you were a flailing team with no cap space, would you trade two top ten picks and cut players aggressively to make the most scandalous possible win-now move in the biggest media market in the country?
Remember – we are talking about the Giants. When was the last time they did anything that others believed was the “right” move – be it with the head coach, the GM, or their players?
True, but they’re usually aiming for some idea of stability or respectability, even if it’s a misguided idea.