The New York Giants did not play football in Week 14, but they got some good news if you’re a fan of building through the NFL draft, as their odds of coming away with the No. 1 pick just improved.
“The Giants now hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after today’s [Tennessee] Titans and [New Orleans] Saints wins,” NFL insider Ari Meirov reported on December 7. He added that the “Giants have WSH, MIN, LV and DAL to finish the year.”
Later, the Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Denver Broncos, which moved Vegas into the No. 2 spot right behind the Giants. The Titans round out the current trio of 2-11 teams in the No. 3 spot, behind the G-Men and Raiders.
So, what does this all mean for the NFL draft order odds?
The Athletic Breaks Down NFL Draft No. 1 Pick Odds for Giants, Others
The Athletic’s NFL draft order simulator calculates and projects each team’s odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick based on the following formula.
“We estimate odds by randomly simulating the remainder of the season thousands of times and counting how often each team makes the playoffs, gets the No. 1 seed, the No. 1 draft pick and so on,” The Athletic’s team of writers explained. “We estimate each team’s probability of winning each remaining game using a statistical forecast that incorporates a host of data, including team records, roster changes, weather, game location and more advanced measures like expected points added and success rate.”
Now, despite being in sole possession of the No. 1 pick as of December 8, the Giants do not have the best odds to retain the coveted draft prize according to The Athletic.
Their odds are actually much lower, at 8%, which is tied with the Cleveland Browns for fourth-best overall chance of landing the No. 1 pick.
The Giants’ odds of a top 5 selection also increased to 52%, with their odds of a top 10 pick rising to 98%.
Per The Athletic’s simulator, the Raiders now have the best odds at the No. 1 pick based on their remaining opponents. Las Vegas is given a 44% chance of landing the pick.
The Titans then have a 21% chance, with the New York Jets at 10%.
Of course, if the Giants were to lose all of their remaining games, they would finish atop the draft.
Why Giants Fans Should Celebrate This Week 14 NFL Draft News
In a non-lottery sport like the NFL, there’s always the debate of building a winning culture versus “tanking” for a higher draft pick. This is not one of those situations.
The Giants didn’t play in Week 14, so no one was rooting for them to lose because they could not win or lose. They simply remained at 2-11 while other bad teams won meaningless games.
This is undoubtedly good news for Big Blue, assuming fans and ownership can put their pride aside for a moment.
Securing a higher draft pick in 2026 gives the Giants the best possible odds at adding more quality prospects around Jaxson Dart and company. Is the draft foolproof? Of course not.
However, it’s always better to have a higher selection in the order, especially when you move up the order while watching from home.
Not only that, but a top pick could also lure top general manager and head coaching candidates to New York, let’s say John Mara continues to clean house.
The Titans and the Saints winning does absolutely nothing to negatively impact Dart’s development. Giants fans can also root for more victories, knowing that if the Saints or Titans keep squeaking out more wins, they’ll remain ahead.
Sure, they might not finish with the No. 1 overall pick, but they have it heading into Week 15, and the more opposing bad teams win, the more likely the Giants are to finish top three.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Giants Get Rare Bit of Good News After NFL Week 14 appeared first on Heavy Sports.