The Los Angeles Rams are closely monitoring the situation of the Falcons this season because they hold Atlanta’s 2026 first round pick and that story gets another chapter on Thursday night. If the Falcons lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, Atlanta’s record falls to 4-10 and L.A.‘s pick squeaks up the charts from 9th overall to the top-7.
Here is the current draft order:
Strength of schedule is the combined record of all opponents of a team and it matters because it is the first and most
important tiebreaker for draft order. The lower your strength of schedule, the higher your draft pick.
Right now the Falcons have a SOS of .502 which is good for L.A.’s draft pick. If they lose to the Bucs, then Tampa’s winning percentage creeps up a little bit at 8-6, but it won’t impact Atlanta’s SOS that much. It seems like the Falcons temporary place in the draft order then would be 6th or 7th, right on the same level as the Washington Commanders.
Then if the Falcons lose and fall to 4-10, Rams fans start rooting for these teams to win this week:
- Root for the Browns to beat the Bears
- Root for the Saints to beat the Panthers
- Root for the Commanders to beat the Giants
- Root for the Jets to beat the Jaguars
- Root for the Cardinals to beat the Texans
- Root for the Bengals to beat the Ravens
Obviously there would be some big upsets in there. Probably nothing that crazy though. It’s unlikely that all six of them will lose though. So Rams fans should be rooting for the Bucs to beat the Falcons and then maybe with a couple of upsets the pick will move up into the top-7.
Then next week the Falcons face the Cardinals, which would be a huge game for Atlanta to lose if they can because Arizona is in competition for a high pick.
The Falcons are starting Kirk Cousins again this week. Raheem Morris is on the hot seat. A number of coaches seem certain to be fired, at least. Atlanta has been missing a number of key starters with injury. And the Bucs really need this one tonight. It looks like the Falcons could lose again, but L.A. can only sit back and watch.
That is until the two teams meet in Week 17.
