Week 12 saw the Giants become the first team in the NFL to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Based on yesterday\u2019s results, another two teams from each conference saw their postseason chances officially come to an end.<\/p>\n
The Titans, Saints, Raiders and Cardinals have now been eliminated as well. Attention in the case of those teams will increasingly turn toward the offseason. For some, questions about changes at the quarterback spot will be ongoing through the spring. Free agency is not expected to include many notable options, so the draft will be sought out in several instances as a means of finding a 2026 starter.<\/p>\n
Of course, the incoming class of passers has largely underwhelmed this season<\/a>. That has led to uncertainty regarding the ceiling<\/a> for many of the top prospects at the quarterback position. Nevertheless, supply often outweighs demand at the top of the Day 1 order in the NFL draft. How things shake out over the closing weeks of the season will be key in determining which QB-needy teams find themselves in the best position to select a new QB1.<\/p>\n For non-playoff teams, the draft order is determined by the inverted 2025 standings plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. Playoff squads are slotted by their postseason outcome and the reverse order of their regular season record.<\/p>\n Here is an early look at the first-round order:<\/p>\n Tennessee Titans (1-11)
\nNew Orleans Saints (2-10)
\nNew York Giants (2-10)
\nLas Vegas Raiders (2-10)
\nCleveland Browns (3-9)
\nWashington Commanders (3-9)
\nNew York Jets (3-9)
\nArizona Cardinals (3-9)
\nLos Angeles Rams (via Falcons)
\nCincinnati Bengals (4-8)
\nMinnesota Vikings (4-8)
\nMiami Dolphins (5-7)
\nKansas City Chiefs (6-6)
\nPittsburgh Steelers (6-6)
\nCarolina Panthers (7-6)
\nDallas Cowboys (6-5-1)
\nDetroit Lions (7-5)
\nHouston Texans (7-5)
\nBaltimore Ravens (6-6)
\nTampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5)
\nBuffalo Bills (8-4)
\nPhiladelphia Eagles (8-4)
\nNew York Jets (via Colts)
\nSan Francisco 49ers (9-4)
\nLos Angeles Chargers (8-4)
\nCleveland Browns (via Jaguars)
\nDallas Cowboys (via Packers)
\nSeattle Seahawks (9-3)
\nLos Angeles Rams (9-3)
\nNew England Patriots (10-2)
\nChicago Bears (9-3)
\nDenver Broncos (10-2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 12 saw the Giants become the first team in the NFL to be mathematically eliminated from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4955,390,254,117,53,260,391,256,54,257,258,113,7,345,253,392,125,110,393,262,58,251,259,249,55,56,255,6,15,4442,109,57,252,261,250,394,111],"class_list":{"0":"post-568227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-arizona-cardinals","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-baltimore-ravens","12":"tag-buffalo-bills","13":"tag-carolina-panthers","14":"tag-chicago-bears","15":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","16":"tag-cleveland-browns","17":"tag-dallas-cowboys","18":"tag-denver-broncos","19":"tag-detroit-lions","20":"tag-football","21":"tag-green-bay-packers","22":"tag-houston-texans","23":"tag-indianapolis-colts","24":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","25":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","26":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","27":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","28":"tag-los-angeles-rams","29":"tag-miami-dolphins","30":"tag-minnesota-vikings","31":"tag-new-england-patriots","32":"tag-new-orleans-saints","33":"tag-new-york-giants","34":"tag-new-york-jets","35":"tag-nfl","36":"tag-nfl-draft","37":"tag-pfr-originals","38":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","39":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","40":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","41":"tag-seattle-seahawks","42":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","43":"tag-tennessee-titans","44":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}