With just two weeks left in the NFL season, many fans of the 3-12 New York Jets are all aboard the tank.

After Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, the Jets rose one spot in the draft order, from No. 5 to No. 4 overall.

Gang Green is firmly in the race to secure the No. 1 overall selection in April’s draft, and if they get a few favors, they can rise as high as No. 2 by Sunday night.

While it doesn’t directly impact New York’s draft position, all Jets fans should be rooting for the Green Bay Packers to take down the Baltimore Ravens tonight.

The Jets’ current situation

Ahead of the Saturday slate of games, here is the current 2026 NFL draft order:

New York Giants (2-13, .530 SOS)

Las Vegas Raiders (2-13, .542 SOS)

Cleveland Browns (3-12, .492 SOS)

New York Jets (3-12, .543 SOS)

Tennessee Titans (3-12, .572 SOS)

Arizona Cardinals (3-12, .578 SOS)

Washington Commanders (4-12, .504 SOS)

New Orleans Saints (5-10, .498 SOS)

Cincinnati Bengals (5-10, .517 SOS)

Kansas City Chiefs (6-10, .513 SOS)

When it comes down to sorting out the draft order, the differentiator is strength of schedule (SOS).

Currently, New York is in a favorable position. The Jets hold the SOS edge over both the Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals, trailing the Las Vegas Raiders by a razor-thin margin of less than 0.01 percentage points for the No. 2 slot. They also hold a key tiebreaker over the New York Giants, an essential advantage in what has become a tightly packed group near the top of the board.

Where the math gets unfriendly is with Cleveland.

The Browns’ schedule strength sits far enough away from the Jets’ that flipping the tiebreaker is unrealistic. If New York has any hope of passing Cleveland, it would require finishing with a worse record, plain and simple.

The indirect path to tank rooting

Now, I know what you incredible Jet X readers might be thinking, “Connor, how does this have anything to do with tonight’s showdown at Lambeau Field?”

As noted above, the only way the Jets can leapfrog Cleveland is to have an outright worse record. This is why Saturday night’s game becomes so critical.

With a Ravens loss, they would officially be eliminated from playoff contention. Their chances in the AFC North would officially be dead, and the Pittsburgh Steelers would be crowned champions of the division.

Now, the Browns are set to face off against the Steelers tomorrow. Should Baltimore lose and Pittsburgh earn the division title, there is a high likelihood that Mike Tomlin would bench all of his starters and preserve them for the playoffs.

That would then significantly boost the Browns’ chances of winning, which is crucial for the Jets in their pursuit of a top-three selection.

As pointed out in our rooting guide this week, the Jets can come out of Sunday with as high as the No. 2 overall pick, and for that to happen, a Browns win is necessary.

A Baltimore Ravens defeat to the Green Bay Packers in Week 17 could go a long way in helping the New York Jets secure that elusive franchise quarterback.