With four weeks left in the NFL's 2016 regular season, here's a look at which teams are in contention to make the No. 1 pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, and the picks that immediately follow.
First and goal: Cleveland Browns
Record: 0-12
Remaining opponents:Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers.
The skinny:Coming off an idle week, the Browns have four more chances to avoid joining the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only winless team in the 16-game regular-season era. At this point, however, only futility that complete will assure the club of getting the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft. A Week 14 matchup against a visiting 4-7-1 Bengals team could represent Cleveland's best chance to escape the ranks of the winless and jeopardize its top-pick standing. Factoring into the last quarter of the Browns' season is the potential return of QB Robert Griffin III, who has been medically cleared for contact and could come off injured reserve as early as the Bengals game.
Still in the game: San Francisco 49ers
Record: 1-11
Remaining opponents:New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks.
The skinny:If the 49ers lose to the 3-8 Jets at home in Week 14, they'll be even more of a threat to challenge Cleveland for the No. 1 pick. With the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks playing for the postseason, neither of those games look winnable for a 49ers offense that was just beaten handily by a Bears team that entered the game with two wins.
The 49ers haven't scored 28 points since Week 1, and after Colin Kaepernick's benching Sunday, it's unclear what the club will do at the quarterback position down the stretch. One thing that could work out in the 49ers' favor -- they have played a tough schedule (.531), but not as tough as Cleveland's (.573), so if the two end up with identical records, the 49ers would get the top pick as strength-of-schedule rankings stand now. SOS is a tiebreaker for the draft order, and the team with the lower strength of schedule gets the higher pick.
Top-five-pick territory
Jaguars (2-10):After facing the 6-6 Vikings in Week 14, the Jaguars get three consecutive spoiler chances against AFC South opponents, two of whom are also 6-6 and at the top of the division standings (Texans and Titans). Blake Bortles' alarming regression at quarterback this season showed no sign of a turnaround in a 20-10 loss to the Broncos on Sunday. At this point, there's no reason to think the Jaguars won't have a top-five pick for the sixth draft in a row.
Bears (3-9):Chicago's win over San Francisco went a long way toward knocking the club out of the picture for the No. 1 pick, but there isn't a sub-.500 team left on the Bears' schedule. Chicago also has the lowest strength-of-schedule percentage (.497) of any club listed here, so the Bears look to be in good position, as of now, to get the higher pick in the event of a tied W-L record.
Jets (3-8):With a Monday night win over the Colts, the Jets would fall into a 4-8 tie with a couple teams. A loss would tie them with the Bears at 3-9, so we're a long way from settling the back end of the top 5 in the draft order. Down the road for the Jets are the aforementioned 49ers, Dolphins, Patriots and Bills -- each team is at .500 or better except for San Francisco.
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