Cincinnati Bengals: Post-Christmas wishes for Week 17

Get Pushed Down The Draft Order As Much As Possible

Since Cincinnati can no longer make the playoffs this year, there’s not much for them in terms of practical, tangible results which can help the team past the final whistle of their Week 17 game. A win over Pittsburgh would be cathartic, having some young guys break out for big games would possibly point to a new level of play from them going forward (see: Tyler Boyd in Week 17 vs Baltimore last year).

None of that is guaranteed to produce long-reaching results for the franchise, however. What does, at least in terms of odds, is getting the best draft picks possible in the upcoming draft.

If Cincinnati does as expected and loses to Pittsburgh, they will at least be set with the worst possible record they can have at this point — and in the draft, that leaves them in line for a much better pick.  At 7-9, the Bengals could be picking as low as 16th, which feels much lower in the order than this team’s talent warrants. At 6-10, they could be right at the tail end of the top 10.

The difference there is drastic: a top-10 pick is a prime spot most years for either selecting a quarterback prospect or trading down for a sizable package of nice picks; a pick in the middle of the first round leaves you in no-mans land, with little chance at having premium talents available and few individuals who would actually want to trade anything valuable to move up into that position.

For Cincinnati to be in the best possible picks in the 2019 NFL Draft, they need a particular result in five different contests this weekend:

• Lose to Pittsburgh
• Jacksonville beats Houston
• Carolina beats New Orleans
• Atlanta beats Tampa Bay
• Denver beats the Los Angeles Chargers

The first outcome is obvious: another loss helps in the draft order case. Wins by the Broncos, Panthers, and Falcons would put them each at 7-9, which would place them decisively below Cincinnati in the pick order. Jacksonville winning would put the Jaguars at 6-10, and Cincinnati would beat them in the strength of schedule tiebreaker (.541 for JAX, .535 for CIN; the easier schedule gets the higher pick).

If all of those outcomes occur, Cincinnati will be the #9 pick in the upcoming draft. This may be the most elaborate of the post-Christmas wishes, but it is eminently possible for them all to come to fruition.