The San Francisco 49ers lost a very very important game for their draft positioning. That last second meltdown against the New York Giants now takes the Giants out of the equation for a top pick. At least for now. We’ll see how the Giants fare as the rest of the season goes on, but one potential roadblock has been avoided for the short-term. The Giants are looking for a pick of their own, and could potentially look to the 49ers as a trade partner in the 2019 draft if there’s a quarterback they covet, provided the Oakland Raiders don’t take them first.
The only two-win teams left are the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants. The Oakland Raiders remain with a single win for the season. Three-win teams will be brought in once bye weeks conclude for the NFL, but until then, we’re going to focus on these.
The most important game this week is the Oakland Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals. If the Raiders can manage to beat the Cardinals, the 49ers would hold the tiebreaker for strength of schedule.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the New York Giants in what will be the other most important game in draft positioning. If the Giants can squeeze a win out of the Bucs, and the 49ers can lose, that would provide tremendous help. If the Giants win and the 49ers beat the Buccaneers next week, they would have a tie, but the 49ers would win the strength of schedule tiebreaker.
Below are the games you should care about:
Buccaneers (3-6) at Giants (2-7): Giants — The 49ers are up a half game on the Giants with their share of wins. The Giants getting a win this week improves things, especially if the 49ers were to win the next week over the Bucs and find themselves in another tie. The Bucs would lose to the 49ers on the strength of schedule alone. If the Giants were to win this week and the Bucs next week, that may be the most ideal scenario—but that would result in wanting a 49ers loss.
Raiders (1-8) at Cardinals (2-7): Raiders — The Raiders need to start winning. If they share two wins with the 49ers, they would lose the tie to the 49ers having a weaker SoS. This is asking an awful lot because Jon Gruden has shipped off all his playmakers for draft picks. Then again, this is the Cardinals and unless it’s the 49ers they play, they really stink.