2025 NFL Draft watch: Patriots move into top spot; Raiders keep sliding

The race for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft is heating up, and there have been some big changes at the top over the past two weeks.

Thanks to this weekend's results, including the New England Patriots 40-7 loss to Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, as well as the New York Giants' stunning 45-33 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, the Patriots will now go into Week 18 of the regular season occupying what would be the No. 1 overall spot for the 2025 draft.

If the Patriots lose to the Buffalo Bills next week, the top pick in 2025 will belong to them. 

The Giants' win against the Colts dropped them from the No. 1 spot down to the No. 4 spot, while the Tennessee Titans occupy the No. 2 spot thanks to their loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The team that has taken the biggest slide over the past two weeks, however, is the Las Vegas Raiders thanks to their back-to-back wins over the Jaguars and New Orleans Saints. 

Those two wins have taken them from a potential No. 1 pick and out of the top-five entirely. After Sunday's game, they were down to the No. 8 overall pick.

The rest of the top-10 as of Sunday evening looks like this:

1. New England Patriots (3-13); 2. Tennessee Titans (3-13); 3. Cleveland Browns (3-13); 4. New York Giants (3-13); 5. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-12); 6. New York Jets (4-12); 7. Carolina Panthers (4-12); 8. Las Vegas Raiders (4-12); 9. Chicago Bears (4-12); 10. New Orleans Saints (5-11).

The Patriots win the tiebreaker for the top spot because they have played — by far — the easiest schedule of the three 3-13 teams. The team with lowest strength of schedule picks higher as part of the tiebreaker.

If the Patriots do end up securing the top pick, it is going to create some interesting options for the front office. Drake Maye looks to be the team's quarterback of the future, so it could open the door for it to select Colorado dual-threat (and Heisman Trophy winner) Travis Hunter or perhaps trade out of the spot for a bounty of picks from a team in need of a quarterback (Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders).

Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward figure to be the top quarterback prospects off the board and could still be options for teams like the Titans and Giants in the Nos. 2 and 4 spots barring any trades. 

This is also a good time for the important reminder that even though fans care about draft position, the players and coaches on the field do not. They are not going to "tank" for draft position when they are playing for careers and jobs. The players on the 2024 Giants and Raiders rosters do not care about draft position when some of them will be playing for different teams next season. They just want to win every game they play.