Welcome to Week 14! The San Francisco 49ers are back in action Sunday morning, as they travel to face the Cleveland Browns. The 49ers are 4-8, coming off a wild overtime win over the Chicago Bears that dropped them a few spots down the draft order. The Browns are 2-10, having lost seven straight and appearing to be a strong candidate for the No. 1 draft picks.
The 49ers currently hold the No. 9 pick of the 2016 NFL Draft, but with four weeks of football remaining, plenty will change. The Vikings and Cardinals played on Thursday, which resulted in a slight increase in the 49ers strength of schedule. They got the Vikings loss, but the Cardinals win counts as two wins since the 49ers face them twice. That bumped both the 49ers and Rams SOS, and so they are both tied for the ninth and tenth draft positions. If this was the final result, there would be a coin flip between the two of them for those spots. Here is how the draft order currently looks, with the strength of schedule for each team listed last. Thanks to Scott Carasik for putting this together.
1. Cleveland Browns (2-10) - .534
2. Tennessee Titans (3-9) - .495
3. San Diego Chargers (3-9) - .523
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8) - .484
5. Baltimore Ravens (4-8) - .508
6. Detroit Lions (4-8) - .523
7. New Orleans Saints (4-8) - .523
8. Dallas Cowboys (4-8) - .526
9. San Francisco 49ers (4-8) - .528
10. St. Louis Rams (4-8) - .528
11. Miami Dolphins (5-7) - .474
12. New York Giants (5-7) - .497
13. Oakland Raiders (5-7) - .508
14. Philadelphia Eagles (5-7) - .513
15. Chicago Bears (5-7) - .523
It's a busy day of action around the 49ers in the draft order. The 49ers have a good chance of winning on Sunday, so those 5-7 teams will be interesting to watch as well. The most intriguing game of the day features the 4-8 Rams hosting the 4-8 Lions. The game opened as a pick 'em, but the Lions are now as high as a 3.5-point favorite at some sports books. I suggest rooting for the Rams, since I think the 49ers stand a good chance of beating them in the season finale.
Here is the schedule of games featuring teams ahead, or one game back of the 49ers. I've bolded teams we are rooting for in Week 14.
Bills (6-6) @ Eagles (5-7)
Lions (4-8) @ Rams (4-8)
Saints (4-8) @ Buccaneers (6-6)
Titans (3-9) @ Jets (7-5)
Colts (6-6) @ Jaguars (4-8)
Chargers (3-9) @ Chiefs (7-5)
Washington (5-7) @ Bears (5-7)
Seahawks (7-5) @ Ravens (4-8)
Raiders (5-7) @ Broncos (10-2)
Cowboys (4-8) @ Packers (8-4)
Giants (5-7) @ Dolphins (5-7)