Discover which teams are positioned for top draft picks. See how surprising season shakeups redefine 2026 NFL Draft outlooks and potential franchise turnarounds.
The 2025 NFL season is nearing its halfway point. For perhaps the first time all year, the playoff landscape is gaining some translucency. Unfortunately for New Orleans Saints fans, they're certainly not included in that number. They're much closer to the top of the list when it comes to the NFL draft.
Few teams that seem to always lead the league in wins have kept up with their exorbitant expectations. Through Week 8, three AFC divisions feature leaders who did not win their division last year. The New England Patriots have gone from worst to first in the AFC East, and the Indianapolis Colts are the best team in football and are just one win shy of tying their win total from a year ago.
The NFC, though featuring less variance than the AFC, has had several shakeups from a year ago. Neither the 15-2 Detroit Lions nor the 14-3 Minnesota Vikings lead the NFC North this time around. The Green Bay Packers, consisting of a young offensive core and a recently-acquired superstar pass rusher, top the division with a record of 5-1-1.
What is more apparent than the potential playoff teams is who will be selecting near the top of the order in the 2026 NFL draft. We have watched enough football to officially determine which of the 32 teams attempting to be contenders were pretenders all along. Here is the draft order, as of today’s standings, consisting of the 18 teams who currently sit outside the playoff picture:
- 1. New York Jets (1-7)
- 2. New Orleans Saints (1-7)
- 3. Tennessee Titans (1-7)
- 4. Cleveland Browns (2-6)
- 5. Miami Dolphins (2-6)
- 6. New York Giants (2-6)
- 7. Arizona Cardinals (2-5)
- 8. Las Vegas Raiders (2-5)
- 9. Baltimore Ravens (2-5)
- 10. Washington Commanders (3-5)
- 11. Cincinnati Bengals (3-5)
- 12. Minnesota Vikings (3-4)
- 13. Los Angeles Rams (via Atlanta Falcons)
- 14. Houston Texans (3-4)
- 15. Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1)
- 16. Carolina Panthers (4-4)
- 17. Chicago Bears (4-3)
- 18. Cleveland Browns (via Jacksonville Jaguars)
Fanbases repping teams at the top of the draft order may set their sights on the offseason and envision what could become of their beloved franchises. The NFL draft provides hope. It allows fans of a last-place team to claim achievement.
Coming off a 2-14 record, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Joe Burrow No. 1 overall in 2020. One year later, they reached the Super Bowl for the first time in over thirty years.
After finishing last in the AFC South in 2022, the Houston Texans drafted CJ Stroud with the No. 2 Pick of the 2023 NFL draft. They won the division that same year and won a playoff game for the first time since 2019.
The Washington Commanders won just four games in the 2023 season. They drafted the Heisman winner out of LSU, Jayden Daniels, with the second pick in 2024. Washington made the NFC Championship in Daniels’ first year.
In this instance, the New York Jets are not the worst team in the NFL; they are the team with the No. 1 Pick in the NFL Draft: a potential gold mine capable of changing a franchise’s misfortunes for the next decade. Following the Saints' most recent loss, and the Jets' most recent win, they sit much closer to the top of the order at No. 2 with a chance at a franchise-altering pick.