Potentially pivotal day for 2025 selection order … Of course, there will still be a couple of weeks to go on the NFL schedule after this weekend’s games, but it could be a defining day for who ends up with the very early picks in the 2025 draft, which for the record will be just 4 months away as of Christmas Eve. For starters, Las Vegas which would have had the #1 pick overall if the draft had been held this week, will be favored when the Raiders host 3-11 Jacksonville, which would have picked 4th, in a late afternoon game today. The Jags, of course, will be without QB Trevor Lawrence; in his stead it will be Mac Jones, while it appears that Aidan O’Connell will be back behind center for the Raiders. Meanwhile, under normal circumstances the Giants, who are currently sitting on the 2nd pick, would be heavy underdogs in their game at Atlanta today, but all bets are off sort of as the Falcons will be starting rookie Michael Penix, their #1 pick at the 2024 draft who has yet to take a snap in an NFL game, at QB over Kirk Cousins. And because both the Raiders and Giants have relatively strong SOS figures, if either should win they could very well drop out of the top 5 picks depending on how other teams do today, although we should note that no other teams currently sitting on top 10 picks are playing each other today. Could be interesting!
