The close of Week 12 has the San Francisco 49ers currently settled in at the No. 5 spot in the 2016 NFL Draft order. They are tied with the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers at 3-8, a game back of the 2-9 Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns. The strength of schedule tiebreakers have left the 49ers at the back of the pack, at .534, compared to the Chargers (.528) and the Cowboys (.523). The Tennessee Titans get the edge for the top pick (.511) over the Cleveland Browns (.517).
We have five weeks left in the season, which means draft positioning is going to change a decent amount. All five teams will lose more games, but I would be surprised if in five weeks the top five looked exactly like it does today. With that in mind, I thought I'd take a look at the schedules of the teams ahead of the 49ers. I might do a one-off looking at the 4-7 teams, but for these four teams in front of the 49ers, I thought I'd break it up into four articles over four days. On Tuesday, we discussed the Titans, on Wednesday, we discussed the Browns, and on Thursday, we discussed the Cowboys. Today, we wrap it up with the team holding the No. 4 overall pick, the San Diego Chargers.
Chargers remaining schedule
Week 13: vs. Broncos
Week 14: @ Chiefs
Week 15: vs. Dolphins
Week 16: @ Raiders
Week 17: @ Broncos
Week 12/13 Injury news
OT King Dunlap (ankle), OG D.J. Fluker (concussion) - One of the Chargers biggest problems this season has been offensive line injuries. They seemed to have them back for Week 11, but injuries flared up again, costing them their left tackle and right guard.
LB Jeremiah Attaochu (chest), DT Sean Lissemore (shoulder), DT Corey Liuget (foot) - All three are expected to play, but are listed as questionable.
What to make of them
The Chargers passing game has managed to remain solid in spite of all the injuries, but the ground game has been pretty abysmal. The defense has been awful for much of the year. This is a hard team to figure out. There is talent on the roster, but nothing seems to be going right for them. They are coming off a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, so they could potentially get some momentum, but they are just not a good team. Sometimes that happens, I suppose!
Prediction
There are some very winnable games on the Chargers schedule, but this team is not exactly an easy one to figure out. This weekend's Broncos game is a winnable one. The Broncos are coming off a huge win over the Patriots, and a let down is a very real possibility. It would not surprise me at all. Kansas City is playing really well right now, so a road game is not exactly ideal. The Dolphins at home and Raiders on the road are both very winnable, particularly the former. I could very well see 5-11 as a strong possibility for this team.