Update: Top four picks remain unchanged for week … With the completion of this afternoon’s late games, we can now add that in addition to the fact that it will again be Houston, Chicago and Seattle with Denver’s pick with the first three picks respectively in the proverbial ‘if the draft were held this week’ selection order for the opening round of the 2023 draft, Detroit, with a pick from the LA Rams will again be in the 4th spot after the Rams lost to Seattle. However, the rest of the top ten won’t be confirmed until after remaining tomorrow night’s Monday nighter between New Orleans and Tampa Bay.
For those missed the action earlier today, Houston dropped to 1-10-1 with a loss to Cleveland in Deshaun Watson’s return to the city to remain essentially two games clear in the race to acquire the #1 pick overall this year. Watson, in his first game back after serving that multiple game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, was okay as he completed 12 of 22 passes with a pick. For its part, Chicago looked to be on the verge of beating their long-time nemesis the Packers as they took a 19-10 lead into the 4th quarter, but Aaron Rodgers were able to rally for a 28-19 win. Meanwhile, Seattle was able to hang onto the 3rd pick when Denver lost a 10-9 heartbreaker in Baltimore. In fact, both Seattle and Detroit could ultimately move up if the Denver Broncos and Rams, both of whom are 3-9, lose their ‘game-in-hand’ over the Bears as both have significantly weaker SOS figures than the 3-10 Bears.
