Week 17 has some great matchups with playoff implications in both conferences. Neither has a set No. 1 seed and the wild card standings are a toss up. We will also see a few teams who don't want to win as they compete for a better pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Texans and Bears are likely to have the No. 1 and No. 2 pick in this years draft, but it could get interesting. The Broncos don't have their pick as they traded it away for Russell Wilson. They will be everything they can do to win the last two games. They would love to have a top five pick right now. The Colts are another team to watch for tanking. I don't see them catching anybody in the top three, but they want a quarterback bad and want to try and get in the top three.
An interesting pick right now would be the Panthers. They would have the No. 8 pick, but because the AFC South has been so bad, they have a shot at making the playoffs. Midway through the season, it seemed they were rebuilding and would try to get a quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft, but Sam Darnold has played decent and they would rather make the playoffs it seems. A playoff berth would drop them out of the top 18 picks.
Here's the complete 2023 NFL Draft order. The first 18 picks are teams that would currently miss the playoffs. A division leader has a lower draft position than a non-playoff or wild card team with a better record because of the nature of playoff seeding. SOS serves as the tiebreaker and comes via Tankathon.
- Houston Texans, 2-12-1, .488
- Chicago Bears, 3-12, .568
- Denver Broncos (Seahawks have pick), 4-11, .488
- Arizona Cardinals, 4-11, .522
- Indianapolis Colts, 4-10-1, .508
- Atlanta Falcons, 5-10, .465
- Los Angeles Rams (Lions have pick), 5-10, .508
- Carolina Panthers, 6-9, .457
- Las Vegas Raiders, 6-9, .461
- New Orleans Saints (Eagles have pick), 6-9, .502
- Cleveland Browns (Texans have pick), 6-9, .522
- Tennessee Titans, 7-9, .508
- Seattle Seahawks, 7-8, .461
- New England Patriots, 7-8, .516
- New York Jets, 7-8, .529
- Pittsburgh Steelers, 7-8, .531
- Green Bay Packers, 7-8, .537
- Detroit Lions, 7-8, .543
- Jacksonville Jaguars, 7-8, .481
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7-8, .492
- Washington Commanders, 7-7-1, .539
- Miami Dolphins (Forfeit pick due to tampering), 8-7, .539
- New York Giants, 8-6-1, .535
- Los Angeles Chargers, 9-6, .434
- Baltimore Ravens, 10-5, .492
- San Francisco 49ers (Broncos have pick), 11-4, .414
- Cincinnati Bengals, 11-4, .525
- Dallas Cowboys, 12-4, .512
- Kansas City Chiefs, 12-3, .453
- Minnesota Vikings, 12-3, .482
- Buffalo Bills, 12-3, .512
- Philadelphia Eagles, 13-2, .477