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Watch: The Race for a High Draft Pick is On and the Falcons are Perfectly Positioned

It’s not the race that fans wanted when the season kicked but a top draft pick could make it go down a bit easier.
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After their Thanksgiving Day debacle against the New Orleans Saints, the Falcons had dropped to the fifth worst record in the NFL. As action has continued in Week 13 though, draft positions have started shifting. Let’s look at the Falcons competition for that number five draft spot and see if there are scenarios where it could improve.

In a couple of big Week 13 upsets, the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins both improved their records to 3-9, matching the Falcons. At the time of this writing, the Denver Broncos are 3-8 pending the final score of their game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The New York Jets moved into contention for a top five pick at 4-8 after providing Zac Taylor with his first win as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The way the schedule breaks for the bottom feeders at the moment, the Bengals are now 1-11 and still have to be odds-on favorite to land the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The overall record for their final four opponents is 26-25, a .510 winning percentage.

The New York Giants are currently in the number two spot in the draft with a 2-10 record. Their problem is, they don’t have another team on their schedule that currently has a winning record. Still, the Giants have persevered and played like a top pick winner most of the season.

Between the Falcons, Dolphins and Redskins, the Falcons have the toughest competition remaining with a record of 24-24. Washington’s remaining opponents are 22-26 and Miami’s are 17-30. With those schedules, both teams will be challenged to block the Falcons from dripping to the third overall pick. It’s going to be a wild race to the finish for all three and remember, they’re only one game behind the Giants for the second slot.

All three need to watch out for a team that is charging hard heading into December though. The New York Jets are 4-8 after losing to the only winless team the NFL had left. Their final four games are also against teams with a .558 winning percentage.

Miami and Washington will be tough to beat but the Falcons have the most challenging final month of the season of the three. They will also have to watch out for the Jets closing behind them but confidence should be high that the Falcons can climb (drop) to the third overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft before this season is over.