I Have No Wins and I Must Draft (Part 4)

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 (I Have No Wins and I Must Draft is our ongoing series that follows the 2025 NFL draft order, the games that will determine it, and the players projected to be taken at the beginning of that draft.)

    In just a week, everything has changed. Once again, all mock drafts have been nullified and the experts are frantically redoing their projections for the rookie class of 2025. There's still time for things to get shaken up one more time, but for now let's look at what happened in the draft order this past week.

    Last time we checked in, the 2-13 Giants held the first overall pick and they were expected to keep it for the rest of the season with their final two games being against the Colts and Eagles. What no one expected was for Drew Lock to put up the best game of his career on the way to a 45-33 victory at home. Lock completed 17 of 23 passes for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns, adding one more touchdown on the ground in the surprising upset. No Giants QB has put up numbers like that in a long time. This win moves the Giants from the #1 overall pick back to the #4 pick. 

    The Jaguars were slated to pick #3 and the Titans were sitting at #4 when the dust had settled on Week 16, but they played each other this week so something had to give. Jacksonville held on to a narrow 20-13 victory to improve their record to 4-12 while the Titans dropped their fifth game in a row to make it to 3-13 on the year. This means the Jaguars have moved back to the #5 pick while the Titans move up to the #2 pick. This puts Tennessee in position to draft any quarterback of their choosing if they do choose to draft a quarterback at all, as long as the #1 pick is not traded to a team that wants a quarterback. More on that later.

    Lastly, the Raiders won their second game in a row to kick themselves even further back from the top spot they had in this draft just two games ago. Their 25-10 triumph over the Saints will bring them to a record of 4-12, which means they currently hold pick #8. Things are looking bleaker for fans in Las Vegas who were hoping for a pro-ready rookie quarterback next season.

    With all of that said, the full draft order is now as follows:

1. Patriots

2. Titans

3. Browns

4. Giants

5. Jaguars

6. Panthers

7. Jets

8. Raiders

9. Bears

10. Saints

11. 49ers

12. Colts

13. Cardinals

14. Dolphins

16. Bengals

17. Falcons

18. Seahawks

19. Texans

20. Broncos

21. Buccaneers

22. Chargers

23. Rams

24. Packers

25. Steelers

26. Commanders

27. Ravens

28. Eagles

29. Bills

30. Vikings

31. Lions

32. Chiefs

    With no Thursday game and no Monday game this week, the regular season will officially end on Sunday night at the conclusion of the Vikings @ Lions game. At that time, the first 18 picks in the draft will be set in stone, barring any trades. There is still a lot that can happen between now and then, as many of the playoff-bound teams will be resting a significant portion of their first-string players this week, but we will have answers to most of those questions in the next 72 hours. 

    The story of this draft class continues to circle around the quarterbacks, or lack thereof. Most experts agree that only two QB prospects are worthy of a first-round pick, but as we move into the semifinal round of the College Football Playoffs, the stage is set for that narrative to change. Some players, like Shedeur Sanders, might have hurt their draft stock with a poor performance in their last game. Others, like Quinn Ewers, have strung together some highly productive games that may warrant a second look from NFL teams that previously wrote them off. Then there is Cam Ward, whose final game is highly polarizing in either direction depending on who you ask. At this stage of the season, every snap has a chance to change the future of the league. The road to the 2025 NFL Draft is still wide open.

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