The San Francisco 49ers dropped to 3-7 with their loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and while it was at times an embarrassing performance, it did improve the 49ers draft prospects. The team climbed up to the No. 6 spot in the 2016 NFL Draft order, and winners in the team's ahead of them open the door for further improvement.
Football Outsiders released their latest playoff and draft odds. The 49ers are listed with an 8.4 percent change at claiming the top pick of the draft, and a 37 percent chance of landing in the top three. Prior to this past week, those numbers were 7.1 percent and 30.7 percent. Detroit and Baltimore were both ahead of the 49ers, but the Lions slipped behind San Francisco. The four teams ahead of the 49ers are the Browns (31.9%, 68.5%), Chargers (27.5%, 63.2%), Titans (16.0%, 47.5%) and Ravens (10.7%, 38.8%).
The 49ers face the Browns and Lions over the remaining weeks of the season. Those games will prove pivotal in determining how the top of the order shakes out. The Lions are on a roll right now, having beaten the Packers and Raiders the last two weeks. The Browns are scuffling along, but have benched Johnny Manziel, and replaced him with Josh McCown. This is not particularly helpful in the long term for the Browns, but it could result in some wins over the final six games of the season. It makes the Week 14 matchup all the more interesting.