2020 NFL Draft Standings: Bengals still on track for No. 1 pick despite win

The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the New York Jets in Week 13, yet they are still the favorite to land the 2020 No. 1 pick. Following Week 13, the Giants are now the only team in the league with two losses while the Bengals are the only one-loss team.

Coming into the week, the Bengals had a two-game lead for the top overall pick. However, with a 22-6 victory, they tightened the gap between them and the Giants to just one game with the Giants likely having the tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker is opponent’s strength of schedule.

The team that played the easier schedule if the two finish with identical records is given the top selection. With the NFC East’s best team at 6-6, the Giants would likely win that tiebreaker.

With the Bengals potentially aiming for Joe Burrow, New York sliding into the top spot wouldn’t necessarily kill their chances at a highly successful draft as they drafted Daniel Jones, their potential franchise quarterback in the first round of the 2019 draft.

That said, there are a myriad of teams with three wins in prime spot following New York and Cincinnati. ESPN currently has them ranked Redskins, Dolphins, and Falcons with other three-win teams rounding out the few spots.

Those could easily vary in the next few weeks.

As for Cincinnati, they’ll have the Browns twice, the Patriots and Dolphins to round out the season. At best, they should win one of those four games so it’ll be interesting to see if they could somehow manage to blow getting the top spot by winning two or more.

However, with a Browns team eager to join the playoff hunt and a dominant Patriots defense, there isn’t much chance for Cincinnati. With one win under their belt, I doubt many have much an issue with Cincinnati losing the next four straight.