It turns out the New Orleans Saints can win and have their cake and eat it, too. Sunday’s win over the Tennessee Titans improved the Saints’ record to 6-10 on the year, but it didn’t drop the Saints any further down in the 2026 NFL draft order. They’re still projected to pick at eighth overall by the experts at Tankathon.
Now, we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. There are still a couple of prime-time games left to play and Monday night’s matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams could shake things up if the Falcons lose and join the Saints at 6-10. Still, we have a good idea at where many teams will be picking, even if the draft order won’t really begin to lock into place until after next week’s games.
Still, we’re talking about going from eighth to potentially ninth. That would happen if the Falcons lose and their strength of schedule is calculated to be lower than New Orleans’. Right now, the Saints own that tiebreaker at .491 against Atlanta’s .496. Margins don’t get much slimmer than that.
But don’t expect any help from the Rams. They’re still competing for playoff seeding and they happen to own Atlanta’s first round draft pick, so they’re doubly motivated to beat up on the dirty birds. Of course there’s a scenario where the Falcons lose and the Saints remain at No. 8. We just won’t know until the dust settles.