Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys’ 2025 season is about to come to a merciful end. This weekend’s games will be the last for Dallas and 17 others, and with them comes the decided draft order for all non-playoff teams. Where do the Cowboys’ 2026 draft picks stand heading into the regular-season finales, and how much could their position change over the next two days?
Currently, the 7-8-1 Cowboys would be 14th in the draft order. Their other first-round pick from Green Bay won’t be decided until we see how the Packers fare in the playoffs, but we know it won’t be any better than 19th. This weekend really doesn’t matter on that front, but it could have a tremendous impact on Dallas’ original pick.
Here is the order going into Week 18:
1. Raiders 2-13
2. Giants 3-13
3. Jets 3-13
4. Titans 3-13
5. Cardinals 3-13
6. Commanders 4-12
7. Browns 4-12
8. Saints 6-10
9. Bengals 6-10
10. Chiefs 6-10
11. Dolphins 7-9
12. Rams (from Falcons) 7-9
13. Buccaneers 7-9
14. Cowboys 7-8-1
15. Lions 8-8
16. Ravens 8-8
17. Vikings 8-8
18. Jets (from Colts) 8-8
The Cowboys’ tie makes this all pretty simple. They won’t get into any big tiebreaker mess with the teams above or below them, assuming none of them have a tied result this week. If they lose this week, Dallas’ pick will be behind all of the 6-11 teams and ahead of the 7-10 crowd. If they beat the Giants, they’ll be behind the 7-10 teams.
The good news is that there is little conflict among the teams that Dallas needs to win or lose; almost none of them are playing each other this week. That means we can have fairly unambiguous rooting interests in the handful of games that are relevant to our draft positioning.
One situation that’s a little murky is the NFC South. There’s a chance that Atlanta, Carolina (the current leader), and Tampa Bay could all finish 8-9 if the Falcons and Bucs win this week. Oddly, if that happens, the Panthers still win the division in the tiebreaking formula. This would also be ideal for Dallas, which could then potentially get ahead of all three teams in the draft order with a loss.
No matter who wins the NFC South between Carolina and Tampa, this outcome could help the Cowboys get ahead of Atlanta’s spot in the draft. The pick actually belongs to the L.A. Rams after last year’s trade.
New England is still vying for the #1 seed in the AFC, so they’re not going to take this one lightly. That’s unfortunate for Dallas’ chances of securing a better draft pick than Miami. But you never know in the NFL, and especially in division rivalry games.
If the Cowboys do beat the Giants and finish 8-8-1, then your hope is that there are as many 9-8 non-playoff teams as possible to keep...
