Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, it’s time to see who is in the poll position for the #1 pick in the NFL Draft. What you need to know as we go into the final 2 months of the regular season is that tiebreakers are determined by Strength of Schedule (“SOS”). The easier the schedule, the better the draft pick. The idea is that if you lost to bad teams, you must be really bad. One team below is not like the others though…
Miami Dolphins (1-7) at Indianapolis Colts (2-7)
Tank Rank Game of the Week
1pm
#6 – New York Jets
- Record: 2-7
- Overview: The Jets decided not to change anything at the trade deadline. Considering they have already made a bunch of moves that resulted in two extra 1st round picks this year, I get it. However, keeping the current team in place can only hurt their quest for the #1 pick…at least with their own selection.
- SOS: .535
- Key Games: at Chargers (11/22), at Dolphins (11/29)
#5 – Miami Dolphins
- Record: 1-7
- Overview: Wait a second, the Dolphins are 1-7 and are the Dolphins, so how are they only ranked 5th? Because their strength of schedule stinks. .586 isn’t just the highest on this list, it is the highest in the NFL! That means they lose all tiebreaks. They did at least put Malik Willis on IR, so they are at least trying. Miami desperately needs to lose against the Colts this week.
- SOS: .586
- Key Games: at Colts (11/15), vs Jets (11/29), vs Chargers (12/27)
#4 – Indianapolis Colts (but really the Jets)
- Record: 2-7
- Overview: The Colts sold off a ton of good players, are objectively terrible, and can easily win the race to the bottom of the standings. There’s just one problem, thanks to the Sauce Gardner trade they owe their pick to the Jets! With every move to strip the Colts of talent at the deadline, New York’s future looked better and better. That trade was a true disaster.
- SOS: .486
- Key Games: vs Dolphins (11/15), at Eagles (12/13), at Titans (12/20)
#3 – Philadelphia Eagles
- Record: 2-7
- Overview: With the possible exception of the Colts game in December, the Eagles should not be favored to win any of their remaining games. They did a great job of trading away Jordan Davis, but that won’t actually hurt the team too much considering he wasn’t really helping the team this year. The good news is that Nick Sirianni and Sean Mannion don’t know what they are doing on offense, Vic Fangio is ready to retire on defense, and the whole team is a MASH unit. As long as Joe Milton is under center, the team should have no problem losing games. Though they only play the Colts on this list, games against the 3-win Cardinals and Texans loom as possible problems. I wish I could rank them higher, but a 2 game Chargers lead stings.
- SOS: .504
- Key Games: vs Colts (12/13)
#2 – San Diego1 Los Angeles Chargers
- Record: 0-8
- Overview: This organization is a total disaster and deserve to be 0-8. How could they not trade any of Khalil Mack, Quentin Johnston, or Tuli Tuipulotu at the deadline? None of them are going to be back next year, but they are going to ride it out? This has me thinking the reason is that they are embarrassed by being winless and are going to really try to win games down the stretch. That’s just the wrong attitude to have in this game. One screw up and the Titans will be waiting to pounce.
- SOS: .537
- Key Games: vs Jets (11/22), at Dolphins (12/27)
#1 – Tennessee Titans
- Record: 1-7
- Overview: This team could very easily lose out the rest of the season. Cam Ward is not very good, they sold off their two best defenders, and they should only have two losable games left on the schedule with the Colts and Commanders. Combine that with the easiest SOS on the list and they have the inside track to #1. The question is though, what will they do with it???
- SOS: .479
- Key Games: vs Colts (12/20)
- Because I’m old, I still mess up and type or say San Diego. Instead of just deleting it, I’ve decided to out myself with the strike through each time. I might be an idiot, but I will be up front about it for comedy’s sake. ↩︎
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