Raiders’ win leaves Cardinals alone atop 2019 NFL Draft order

Dec 26, 2018, 8:38 AM | Updated: 12:06 pm

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

A week ago, the Arizona Cardinals’ lesser strength of schedule gave them an edge on the Oakland Raiders, who had the same 3-11 record, good for worst in the NFL. Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Cardinals find themselves all alone at the bottom of the NFL standings and at the top of the NFL Draft order for 2019.

Arizona fell, 31-9, to the Los Angeles Rams at home in Week 16, while Oakland came out with a 27-14 win over the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

That puts the Cardinals at 3-12 with a game at the Seattle Seahawks to play.

The San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets and Raiders are all 4-11, a game within Arizona.

The Cardinals would cement their spot atop the 2019 NFL Draft with a loss in Week 17. But with a win, there’s a good chance of hurting their draft positioning.

The Jets have a tall task of visiting the 10-5 New England Patriots in their 2018 regular season finale. The 49ers are also on the road to take on the 12-3 Rams, and the Raiders face the 11-4 Chiefs in Kansas City.

Below, you’ll find the current upside-down standings and strength of schedule for the teams in contention with Arizona to draft first. A few quick rules before looking at that:

• The top of the draft order is decided by the inverse winning percentage of non-playoff teams.

• Tiebreakers are based on inverse strength of schedule — the aggregate winning percentage of a team’s opponents. In other words, the team that played the weakest schedule with the worst combined record will earn a higher pick.

• The second tiebreaker is divisional records against common opponents.