How Giants Can Still End Up with No. 1 Pick in Draft Despite Win vs Raiders

The New York Giants’ nine-game losing streak, one that spanned over two months and was knocking on the door of tying franchise history, is now over with the team's 34-10 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday that also helped snap their 13-game skid on the road.

For the players in the locker room, the taste of their first win since Week 6, under the leadership of interim head coach Mike Kafka, has to be a sigh of relief amidst another season of horrendous football that has cast a big black cloud over several faces within the organization.

However, to some of the Giants fans on the outside, the somewhat predictable outcome is bringing a smidge of frustration as New York has seemed to cost itself a shot at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft, a coveted asset that was pretty much guaranteed to be theirs had they maintained their progress with another loss.

With one more game left to be played in Week 18, that against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, not all is truly lost in that department, as the Giants will enter the final weekend of the 2025 regular season with one feasible scenario that could still put them in the position many were hoping for them to be on their way home from Vegas.

How the Giants can still get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft

The Giants can finish anywhere from first to seventh in the 2026 draft order depending on the outcome of Week 18. It would be the fourth time in the last five drafts the Giants have landed in the top 10 of the first round, the lone exception being in 2023 when they ended up picking 24th after trading up one spot to select cornerback Deonte Banks.

NYG Draft Pick Scenarios in Week 18

#1: NYG lose, LV win
#2: NYG lose, LV lose

Other 3/4 win teams: NYJ, TEN, ARI, CLE, WAS

If NYG win:
#2: all 5 of those teams also win
#3: 4 win
#4: 3 win
#5: 2 win
#6: 1 wins
#7: all lose

If NYG win, each loss by NYJ/TEN/ARI/CLE/WAS drops…
— Doug Analytics (@Doug_Analytics) December 28, 2025

The easiest way for the Giants to regain control of the first overall pick would be for New York to lose to the Cowboys, who per FanDuel are already a 5.5-point favorite over Big Blue, and for the Raiders, who are a 5.5-point underdog per FanDuel, to beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

That scenario would see the Giants jump ahead of the Raiders for the first pick in the draft because, although both teams would finish with identical won-loss records, the Giants hold the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker (SOS), with New York having the weaker SOS.

If both the Giants and Raiders lose their Week 18 games, the Giants would secure the No. 2 slot in the draft order.

While it's not the best possible outcome for all the draft enthusiasts out there, it would still put the franchise in a good position to trade down in the order if there is a quarterback-needy team willing to give up a bounty of picks for the spot.

While many believe the Giants have a solid young core, adding to it is paramount if the Giants want to turn the franchise around.

Several early mock drafts have projected teams like the Jets or Browns ringing the lines and sending the Giants a pair of first- or second-round picks as part of the compensation, leaving them locked and loaded to retool the roster.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Be sure to follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Have a question for Saturday morning mailbag? Send it here.

How the Giants can still get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft

More New York Giants Coverage