UPDATE: The Vikings beat the Packers on Sunday, which means the Eagles are locked in as the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed. That also means they might rest starters at home next week against the Giants, with the possibility that another Giants win — and 4-13 finish — would result in them falling even farther down the 2025 NFL Draft order. Already on Sunday, they fell from first to fourth.
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The Giants fell from first to third in the 2025 NFL Draft order by beating the Colts on Sunday.
They could keep falling.
That’s because a Browns loss in Sunday’s late afternoon window would drop the Giants to fourth. (Fortunately for the Giants, the Raiders won again Sunday, to get to four wins.)
But what if the Eagles rest starters at home in Week 18 against the Giants? Could the Giants get another win against the Eagles’ backups? If they do, they could continue to fall in the draft order.
At this point, there are four three-win teams atop the draft: Patriots, Titans, Giants, and Browns. Then there are these 4-12 teams from Nos. 5-9: Jaguars, Jets, Panthers, Raiders, and Bears.
The Giants currently lose the strength of schedule tiebreaker to every team in the top nine except the Bears. Which means there’s a chance the Giants could drop very far if they beat the Eagles’ backups in Week 18.
As for that top nine (every team with three or four wins entering Week 18), five of them will or could be in the mix for a quarterback — Titans, Giants, Browns, Jets, and Raiders.
The Eagles, who won the NFC East with Sunday’s victory over the Cowboys, will be locked in as the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed if either the Vikings or Lions win this week. (The Eagles need both teams to lose, in order to remain in contention for the No. 1 seed.)
While the Lions don’t play until Monday night, the Vikings are in late Sunday afternoon action against the Packers. The Lions have a more winnable game, against the 49ers.
So there’s a good chance the Eagles will have nothing to play for in Week 18 — at least in terms of playoff seeding.
Of course, there’s always the matter of ex-Giants running back Saquon Barkley chasing the NFL’s single-season rushing record. He currently has 2,005 yards — 101 shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s record, set in 16 games in 1984. (Barkley has a 17th game to do it.)
This is a tricky spot for the Eagles, if they come out of Week 17 with nothing to play for. Ideally, they’d rest starters. But Barkley breaking the single-season rushing record against the team that just let him walk in free agency would be quite the storyline to pass up.
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Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com.
