It’s time to start thinking about the Cardinals’ spot in the NFL Draft

Losing to the Oakland Raiders at home Sunday marked another low point in the Arizona Cardinals’ season.

For them, it means falling to the team that previously held the worst record in the NFL. The outcome evened that team’s record with Arizona’s own.

From that standpoint, the Cardinals’ loss brought a grave reality to their locker room. Maybe they — not the Raiders — are the worst team in the NFL.

In the present, that is concerning. If searching for a hopeful outlook, then the Week 11 Arizona defeat can be viewed through another lens: the Cardinals are up for the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

They fell to 2-8 on the season, making for a three-way tie with Oakland and the San Francisco 49ers at the bottom of the NFL standings. When it comes to the draft order, it’s time to begin tracking where Arizona stands.

A few quick rules:

• 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.

Here’s a look at the top of the NFL Draft order after Week 11.

Pick	Team	Record	Strength of schedule
1	San Francisco 49ers	2-8	.506
2	Arizona Cardinals	2-8	.531
3	Oakland Raiders	2-8	.556
4	New York Jets	3-7	.491
5	New York Giants	3-7	.506
6	Buffalo Bills	3-7	.519
7	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3-7	.538
8	Jacksonville Jaguars	3-7	.541

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