2009 Draft Position & Who to Root for Sunday

It's ALREADY that time of season for us Redskin fans again. The time for Christmas wishes and looking forward to the NFL draft, not our upcoming playoff matchup.

Since I am sure that many here are wandering where exactly we will be selecting in the 1st round... I decided to take a look at the scenerios leading up to Sundays game in SF.

Basically, depending what happens Sunday, we could draft as high as 13th, but that is unlikely as we would have to lose, the Bills defeat the Patriots, the Saints defeat the Panthers, and the Texans defeat the Bears.

The lowest we could draft is 18th. This happens if we win, the Cowboys defeat the Eagles, the Bears DON'T make the playoffs, and the Jets lose to the Dolphins. This seems a lot more likely.

I wanted to point out for everyone which games will have an effect on our position between 15th and 18th (our most likely landing spot)....

* We want the Bears to win (vs Texans) & the Vikings to lose (to G-Men), because the Bears will draft ahead of us if they don't make playoffs, whereas, the Vikings would still draft after us if they don't make it.

* We want the Jets to win (over Dolphins) as they would draft ahead of us if we finish tied at 9-7 (due to strength of schedule). FYI, whoever doesn't make playoffs between Miami, NE, and Balt. automatically will draft after us as they all have 10 wins.

* We want the Eagles to win over Dallas (as if we needed MORE reason!) because if they lose they will draft before us (8-7-1 is worse thatn 9-7). FYI, whoever doesn't make playoffs between Dallas (Lions will be USING their pick from a trade) & Tampa will draft after us due to their sos being higher.

If these 4 things happen, and we win, we will have the 15th selection in the upcoming draft.

Basically, each of those "scenarios" constitutes a slot for us in the draft.

So, somewhere between 15 & 18 seems most likely, but if you REALLY care about a couple of slots (us picking 13th), then your Christmas wish is for us to lose, etc. noted above...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

OH... And I wanted to point out what I thought was interesting when looking at this....

The Detroit Lions have, by far, the toughest SOS of anyone in football at .573, whereas the Tennessee Titans have, by far, the easiest SOS at .433.... just an extra nugget there.

I also read somewhere that if we lose and finish last in the division, we get to play the Lions on the road and the Seahawks at home next year. If we win, we have to play two much tougher opponents - cant remember who they were, but it was something like Colts at Home, Steelers on the road...
it made me kinda hope we lose, so we have an easier schedule next year.

That's a great point about next year's schedule... like I said in another post, I am not on the bandwagon saying finishing 9-7 is such a big deal/great thing.

I understand it's perfectly rational to lay out these scenarios. I also understand the longer term benefit (next year's schedule, draft position) if the Redskins lose. I especially understand how it makes even more sense to look at it this way since we've been eliminated from the playoffs.

However, I cannot, and will not EVER cheer for the Redskins to lose. Plain and simple.

HAIL.

I also read somewhere that if we lose and finish last in the division, we get to play the Lions on the road and the Seahawks at home next year. If we win, we have to play two much tougher opponents - cant remember who they were, but it was something like Colts at Home, Steelers on the road...
it made me kinda hope we lose, so we have an easier schedule next year.


there is no way we can play the colts and steelers in the same regular season as they are in different divisions and we just played the AFC North this season more than likely we will face the AFC west next season

there is no way we can play the volts and steelers in the same regular season as they are in different divisions and we just played the AFC North this season more than likely we will face the AFC west next season

We do play the AFC West next season. It rotates. in '06 we played the AFC South, last year the AFC East, this year AFC North, next year AFC West. Last time we played the Chargers was when LT ripped off that sick run to beat us at FedEx in OT back in '05. :(

We went 0-4 that year against the AFC.

More FYI...

From what I read & understand...

* The last place team (if we lose) from NFC East will play at Detroit Lions and at home against the St. Louis Rams (wow that's be weird... identical to this year)

* The 3rd place team (if we win) will play at Green Bay Packers and at home against Seattle Seahawks

to me .... that's a HUGE difference, because of 2 things...

1) Obviously, we would have an easier schedule (Lions instead of Packers jumps out!) by losing & finishing last...

2) If we win Sunday and Dallas loses, THEY would be last place in division, meaning THEY would get to play Lions/Rams!! If we win & Dallas wins, then Eagles would play Rams/Lions.


Oh... Here is our exact schedule:

Home: Dallas, Philadelphia, NYG, Saints, Buccaneers, Broncos, Chiefs, same place finisher from NFC West

Away: Dallas, Philadelphia, NYG, Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, same place finisher from NFC North

At this point all I already look forward to seeing is the Giants getting knocked out of the playoffs. I know I'm fast forward a bit but I can't stand the Giants. And say what you will about Dallas and Eagles. But for me the Giants really get under my skin.(No pun intended) I would like to see the Skins go out winning. If it means a tougher schedule next year, so be it. We are either good enough to beat them or no sence in getting in the playoffs next year. Draft is concerning but to many variables to worry about that. Go Skins!!!!!!!!!

I understand it's perfectly rational to lay out these scenarios. I also understand the longer term benefit (next year's schedule, draft position) if the Redskins lose. I especially understand how it makes even more sense to look at it this way since we've been eliminated from the playoffs.

However, I cannot, and will not EVER cheer for the Redskins to lose. Plain and simple.

HAIL.

Could'nt of said it better myself! Win and let the pieces fall where they may. I'm not trying to back into anything. HAIL REDSKINS!!!

Well, like I said, in the original post... we can win sunday and still pick 15th. I just wanted to make Sunday more interesting for 'Skins fans by pointing out who else to root for in order to pick up 1 to 3 spots in the draft.

I think the whole playing Lions/Rams instead of Packers/Seahawks IS a bigg deal... especially if we are the ones playing GB/Sea & Dallas is playing Det/StL...

so while I am not necessarily ROOTING to lose, what I REALLY want is to play a bunch of the young guys Sunday...

If we win, good news for the future with some guys that contribute well, if we lose because these guys are starting/getting majority of reps (Rinehart, Kelly, Thomas, Davis, Tryon), it helps us next year with an easier schedule and better draft pick... to me win-win.

Too bad Cerrato totally disagrees (from Wash Post)..

"No longer in the hunt for an NFC wild-card berth, the Redskins could use their final game as an audition for next season, giving rookies such as Rinehart and Tryon playing time with the first team. But with the opportunity to finish with consecutive victories, "we're looking to win the game," Cerrato said. Rinehart "hasn't played yet. It makes no sense to do that. How's that fair to [starting left guard] Pete Kendall? We're not into evaluating, we're into winning the last two games in a row." "