New York Jets tank update: Chargers, Washington move to 2 wins

The New York Jets are still leading the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes. Here’s how the other bad teams in the NFL stack up.

It’s tanking season in New York. Both Big Apple football teams have combined for one win this season, but the New York Jets stand alone as the only winless team left in the NFL. As difficult as this season has been for Jets fans, the possibility of drafting Trevor Lawrence first overall would be a tremendous consolation prize.

Here’s the current 2021 NFL Draft order after seven weeks.

Current 2021 NFL Draft Order

New York Giants

The New York Giants blew a chance to improve to 2-5 on Thursday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles. Up 11 points with minutes left, the Giants let the Eagles score twice and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Actually, the better way to describe the game would be the Giants snatched defeat from the Jaws of victory. Either way, Big Blue is still in the running for the first overall pick.

With that said, the NFC East is horrendous and it’s likely that the Giants will be able to steal another win or two against the Cowboys, Eagles, or Washington.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars are on a six-game losing streak after shocking the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. After taking a seven-point lead in the second half on Sunday, they gave up 17 unanswered points to Justin Herbert and the Chargers.

Jacksonville has a bye in Week 8, but they’ll face the one-win Texans in Week 9. Barring a tie, either Houston or Jacksonville will move to two wins on the season following that game.

Atlanta Falcons

It’s both surprising and predictable to see the Falcons at the bottom of the standings. On one hand, they have the offensive talent to steal a few wins here and there. But on the other hand, these Falcons are notorious for giving up leads late in games.

With the game in hand on Sunday, Todd Gurley scored a touchdown that gave the Lions the ball back with time left on the clock. Lions quarterback Matt Stafford engineered a game-winning drive to rip the victory away from Atlanta.

Upcoming games against the Panthers and Broncos are winnable for the Falcons.

Houston Texans

The Texans have absolutely no incentive to tank this year. No one loved trading away valuable assets more than former coach and general manager Bill O’Brien. The Miami Dolphins own Houston’s first-round pick in the Laremy Tunsil trade.

Houston has winnable upcoming games against the Jaguars, Browns, Patriots, and Lions. Deshaun Watson is too good to let his team fall to the No. 1 draft pick. This might be the only one-win team that poses absolutely no threat to the Jets’ hopes at Trevor Lawrence.

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings are paying Kirk Cousins a ton of money, but the Vikings are still one of the worst teams in football. But much like the Falcons and Texans, the Vikings have too much talent up and down the roster to finish the season in last place.

The Vikings have a handful of winnable games left on the schedule. The Cowboys, Lions, Jaguars, and Panthers provide a few opportunities to snag a win or two.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals have looked better than their 1-5-1 record would suggest. They also have no reason to tank for Lawrence given the fact that they just took Joe Burrow with the first-overall pick in the 2020 draft.

The Bengals also have three NFC East opponents left to play. The Giants, Cowboys, and Washington are not putting fear into any opponents.

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys look like they might give the Jets a run as the worst team in football this year, but they already have two wins locked up. That gives the Jets a pretty solid head start.

They are only a half-game back of the playoffs and it’s unlikely that we see the Cowboys tank. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last two weeks it’s that the Cowboys need to re-sign Dak Prescott. They aren’t going to be in the running for Trevor Lawrence.

Washington Football Team

The Washington Football Team would love to have Trevor Lawrence given their current quarterback situation. But they are already 2-5 and as we said of the Giants and Cowboys, the NFC East teams are going to cannibalize one another for a few wins here and there.

Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers are 2-4, but they’re trending in the right direction. Justin Herbert has thrown for at least three touchdowns in his last three games and even though the Chargers are a longshot to make the playoffs, there is almost no chance they challenge for the top pick in the draft.

New England Patriots

We can’t even fathom the possibility of Bill Belichick lucking into the top pick and taking Trevor Lawrence. The Patriots are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. If the football gods are just, the Pats won’t be bad enough to drop to last place in the NFL.

Denver Broncos

If the Broncos had the No. 1 pick in the draft, they’d take Lawrence and move on from Drew Lock. That is almost a no-brainer, but it’s unlikely that they will be bad enough to do so.

After backup quarterback Brett Rypien led the Broncos to a win over the Jets, they have the tiebreaker. That means the Jets have a three-game lead over the Broncos for the first pick in the draft right now.