NFL Tankathon: How Will Week 17 Odds and Results Affect 2025 NFL Draft Order?

There are just two games left in the NFL regular season, and while some teams are scrapping in the playoff race, there is an entire sect of the league doing their best not to win another game. Welcome back to the NFL Tankathon, where the worst teams in the league duke it out to see who the biggest loser is.

There are several important matchups in Week 17 that could rearrange the 2025 NFL Draft order depending on their results. The Giants will host the Colts with a chance to essentially lock up the No. 1 pick with a loss, while the Titans and Jags fight for the No. 3 spot down south. Let's take a look at each team's chances and how they'll shift as they fight for top five draft picks.

Click here for the Week 18 Tankathon Breakdown

NFL Tankathon: Draft Order if Season Ended Today

1. New York Giants (2-13)
2. New England Patriots (3-13)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12)
4. Tennessee Titans (3-12)
5. Cleveland Browns (3-12)
6. Las Vegas Raiders (3-12)
7. Chicago Bears (4-12)
8. Carolina Panthers (4-11)
9. New York Jets (4-11)
10. New Orleans Saints (5-10)

Click here for the latest NFL Week 17 Odds

NFL Tankathon: Week 17 Odds

No. 14 Colts vs. No. 1 Giants (+7.5)

The New York Giants basically have one last chance to win a game today when they host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon. They are 0-8 at home this year, and some fans are desperate to see a single win at MetLife Stadium, while others are hoping the wins stay low.

With Anthony Richardson out for the Colts, Joe Flacco will step in as Indy has an outside shot at the final AFC wild card spot. Since the Bengals won last night, the Broncos were unable to clinch, leaving the door open for Cincy and Indianapolis to find a way in. The Colts should obviously be playing motivated football today to try and steal that spot in Week 18, but they might've packed up shop today if the Broncos had eliminated them last night.

The Giants have roughly a 17% shot of winning this game according to our oddschecker+ AI data, worse than the 25% implied by their +295 odds. This is likely their last chance at a win as we said, with them taking on the Eagles in Philly next week. Even with the Eagles resting players in Week 18, they will still pulverize this Giants squad, so this game today is for the official No. 1 spot in the draft.

No. 4 Titans (-1) vs. No. 3 Jaguars.

The Jags and Titans will have their rematch in Jacksonville today, after Mac Jones and co. pulled the slight upset in Nashville earlier this month. It was an ugly game packed with field goals that the Jags ultimately won 10-6, and neither team eclipsed 300 total yards.

The Titans are slightly favored at -1 here in what essentially amounts to a pick'em between these AFC South foes. Both teams are relatively atrocious, especially inept on offense. Mason Rudolph has been mildly serviceable since taking over for Will Levis, scoring a few garbage-time touchdowns against the Colts last week and the Bengals the week before.

One team has to win this one, and they will unfortunately be dropped out of the top-5 in the draft order while the other is almost guaranteed a top-three selection. This is truly the NFL Tankathon game of the week from a consequences standpoint, much like Jags vs. Raiders was last week. The Raiders edged out Jacksonville by five points, and were punished by losing five spots in the race.

No. 6 Raiders (-2) vs. No. 10 Saints

As mentioned, the Raiders really soiled their tankathon quest last week, accidentally winning at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The moral victory took them out of the first overall spot and dropped them all the way to No. 6, a massive jump that could cost millions in draft capital.

They had an easy path, and held the tiebreaker over the Giants for the top pick, enabling them to draft Shedeur Sanders to take over at quarterback. Unfortunately, they weren't good enough at losing, and now will have to hope some of their league mates can find victories at the bottom. At the very least, they will have to avoid winning again when they play Spencer Rattler and the Saints on Sunday afternoon.

The Raiders are favored by two points on the road in NOLA, and it seems like no one told Aidan O'Connell that they're supposed to be losing. He's played fairly well when not injured, almost beating the Chiefs and Falcons in recent weeks before finally breaking through against the Jags. This Saints team was demoralized by a 34-0 loss in Lambeau on Monday Night Football that it is entirely possible to drop this one as well. In that case, neither of these teams will be sniffing a top-five pick.

Other NFL Draft Tankers: Patriots, Browns

The New England Patriots hold the second spot, and have already lost twice since the last rendition of this article. They were narrowly defeated by the Bills last week after starting up 14-0, and then got dismantled by the Chargers yesterday in a 30+ point blowout.

The Pats will be hoping for a Giants win so they can take over the top spot, but it isn't entirely necessary. It's pretty well known that they'll be going for Travis Hunter who should be there in the second position, because the Pats already have their potential franchise QB in Drake Maye. They have one more game against the Bills next week, which should be another easy loss if they want it to be. The Pats will be at least top-two in 2025.

The Browns are also clocking in at 3-12, and will host the Dolphins today in Cleveland. They are 3.5-point underdogs, so they'll have to be careful to not accidentally beat a Dolphins team that is technically still alive in the playoff race. Mike McDaniel's team won't have fully given up since they can get in with a few other teams losing one more time, so it should be easier for the Browns to drop this one.

The Browns hold the No. 5 spot, and are poised to move up with a loss since either the Jags or Titans has to lose in the 3/4 game. They just restructured Deshaun Watson's contract, but there have been little signals as to what they are going to do in the draft, with a lot to fix on the offensive side of the ball. They are in desperate need of a top-4 pick.