After entering Sunday with one win on the season, the Detroit Lions pulled off a stunning — and convincing — upset victory over the 10-win Arizona Cardinals. However, in doing so, the Lions (2-11-1) also lost their spot atop the current 2022 NFL Draft order.
With the Lions’ victory, the Jacksonville Jaguars — 2-12 –would now have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Fresh off the firing of head coach Urban Meyer, the Jaguars looked like experts on the tanking front with a 30-16 home loss to a Houston Texans team that also entered the day with just two wins.
Following Sunday’s late afternoon games, here’s the current top-10 in the 2022 NFL Draft order:
1. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-12)
2. Detroit Lions (2-11-1)
3. Houston Texans (3-11)
4. New York Jets (3-11)
5. New York Giants via Chicago Bears (4-10)
6. New York Giants (4-10)
7. Carolina Panthers (5-9)
8. New York Jets via Seattle Seahawks (5-9)
9. Atlanta Falcons (6-8)
10. Washington Football Team (6-8)
Update: Following Tuesday night’s Eagles win over Washington, the Football Team replaced Philadelphia in the top-10; the Eagles move down to No. 11.
Even though the Lions have the same amount of wins as Jacksonville, Detroit also has a tie, which is better than a loss. So the Jaguars will hold that “tiebreaker” all year.
Jacksonville has the following games to finish the season: at the Jets, at the New England Patriots, and at the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots and Colts games are almost for-sure losses, and Jacksonville will likely even be underdogs on the road vs the lowly Jets.
And Detroit has the following games to finish the season: at the Atlanta Falcons, at the Seattle Seahawks, and vs the Green Bay Packers. The Falcons are quite beatable, but they’ll be favored at home vs the Lions. The same goes for the Seahawks, and we know any game in Seattle is tough. The Packers game, oddly enough, could actually be very winnable- if Green Bay — the current NFC No. 1 seed at 11-3 — already had the top seed locked up and rested starters.
The Jaguars had the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft as well, and used it to select Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The combo of Lawrence and the top overall pick in 2022 should make the Jacksonville job an extremely attractive one to head-coaching candidates, so this situation could get turned around quickly.
