Total Pro Sports
The stunning results of the 2025 NBA Draft lottery immediately led to suggestions and speculation that the NFL Draft would undergo a significant change, too.
Among the “big four” professional sports leagues (NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB), the NFL is the one that doesn’t have a lottery to determine its draft order. Major League Baseball began using the draft lottery format in 2023, while the NBA and NHL started using the system in 1985 and 1995, respectively.
The Dallas Mavericks won the 2025 NBA Draft lottery and Cooper Flagg sweepstakes despite entering with only a 1.8 percent chance. So, could we see an NFL Draft lottery in the not-so-distant future?
As noted by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, an NFL Draft lottery system is highly unlikely. He pointed out that the NFL loves to put an emphasis on the notion that its teams don’t tank and are always trying to win:
Here’s the problem. Merely having a lottery legitimizes the reality that, at some point in a lost season, it’s good to be bad. With the NFL stubbornly pushing the notion that every team tries its best to win every game of every regular season, anything that would crystallize the perception that losing leads to winning would take a sledgehammer to the façade of competitive integrity…
The NFL doesn’t want anyone to connect losing games and getting dibs on the sorting hat process. Having a draft lottery acknowledges the link, making it harder for the NFL to perpetuate the ruse that every team tries to win every game, every week of every year.”
Florio mentioned one obvious form of tanking for the top pick in the NFL Draft, AKA the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014. In the last game of the season, they pulled starters against the New Orleans Saints despite holding a 20-7 lead at halftime.
New Orleans put up 16 unanswered points to win 23-20. The Bucs earned the No. 1 pick and drafted quarterback Jameis Winston, who brought mixed results to the team.
Whether NFL fans like it or not, the league has done it right by not using a format whatsoever. Imagine if the Indianapolis Colts couldn’t draft Peyton Manning first overall in 1998, or if the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t get Joe Burrow with the top pick in 2020.
The draft lottery is complete luck, and it’s not fair for the worst franchises to miss out on generational talents because of a lottery system. The NFL does it right by giving its worst teams first dibs on the top prospects.
Also Read: Deion Sanders Reportedly Cried His Eyes Out Over Shedeur’s NFL Draft Slide
