2025 NFL Draft order: How Patriots’ pick position improved in bye week originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The New England Patriots had a successful Week 14 even though they didn’t play a game.
The Patriots entered their bye week with the No. 4 pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but as a result of Sunday’s results, they moved up one spot to No. 3.
The reason for the jump was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 10-6 victory over the Tennessee Titans in one of the ugliest games of the season. Ex-Patriot’s first-round pick Mac Jones started at quarterback for the Jaguars and earned the win despite throwing two interceptions and zero touchdown passes.
The win for the Jaguars improved their record to 3-10. There are six teams at 3-10, including the Patriots, but New England has the tiebreaker over all of them because it has the worst strength in schedule rating (.459).
The Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants (both 2-11) own the No. 1 and No. 2 picks, respectively. Both teams had a good chance to win on Sunday, which would have created a perfect scenario for the Patriots. But the Raiders faltered in the fourth quarter, ultimately losing 28-13 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Giants lost 14-11 to the New Orleans Saints after missing a potential tying field goal in the final seconds.
Even if the Patriots lose all of their last four games, they still need the Raiders and/or Giants to win at least one more game to move up in the order.
The Patriots’ chances of winning another game are quite low. They have the third-toughest remaining schedule, based on the fact that their last opponents have a combined winning percentage of .654. New England plays at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15 and the Buffalo Bills in Week 16, then hosts the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 17 and the Bills in Week 18.
Patriots fans should cheer for the Cowboys on Monday night, as a win in Dallas would worsen the Bengals’ record, which would also reduce New England’s strength on the schedule. The Patriots defeated the Bengals in Week 1.
Here is the updated order for the top 10 picks in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. This chart will be updated after Cowboys-Bengals.
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r
