NFL Draft Order: How Patriots Move Back Into Top 3
The New England Patriots' win last week gave their fans a Christmas present, but it may have shaken up the future of the franchise.
The win against the Denver Broncos gave the Pats their fourth win of the season, which tied them with the Washington Commanders, who have lost all six of their games since beating the Patriots back in November.
The Pats' strength of schedule increased to .522 over the past week, and the Commanders moved up to .518, giving Washington the inside track for the No. 3 overall pick.
Having a top three pick is crucial for the upcoming draft because that would give the Pats the option to choose between two quarterbacks with the No. 3 pick, likely between North Carolina's Drake Maye and LSU's Jayden Daniels. The Commanders have a high likelihood of also taking a quarterback, so picking ahead of them could allow the Pats to beat them to the punch.
Washington is projected to lose its final two games, having to play the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, two NFC Super Bowl contenders. But New England can flip back up into the top three. Here's how ...
1) Patriots need to lose both of their final games. One more loss wouldn't guarantee a pick outside of the top three, but it would make things far more difficult.
2) The strength of schedule tiebreaker would need to flip back to the Patriots' favor, but with only a .004 difference, it's entirely possible.
The logos represent the teams that the Patriots should be rooting for to help weaken their strength of schedule.
The Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons have two stars by their logo because the Pats played both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints, while the Commanders didn't. If both of those teams were to lose, then the Patriots' strength of schedule will weaken.
There's a lot of intricate math involved, but two Pats losses while the Saints and Steelers also lose helps New England climb up the draft board.
