NFL Winners and Losers: Giants win, and probably lose out on drafting a QB 1st overall

The only thing New York Giants fans could be somewhat happy about this season was the hope of a new era in 2025, starting with a quarterback they pick first in the NFL Draft. Shedeur Sanders, in anticipation of being the top pick, even had Giants cleats in his locker during Colorado’s bowl game on Saturday.

The only thing nobody accounted for was the Giants actually winning a game and screwing up all those draft plans.

NFL teams don’t tank. It’s talked about all the time among fans but it almost never happens. Giants players and coaches don’t care about draft position. Maybe fans in the stands were probably rooting for yet another loss, but the Giants played their best game in months and beat the Indianapolis Colts 45-33, knocking the Colts out of the playoffs.

Drew Lock completed 7 of 8 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. New York returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown. Fox’s broadcast team said it was the first time the Giants have returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown since 1949. Malik Nabers had a huge game and the Giants held off a Colts team that was still alive for the postseason coming in.

The Giants picked a heck of a time to finally play well. It was their first time scoring 40 points since Dec. 22, 2019. They hadn’t even scored 30 in a game this season.

The Giants’ win will change the entire outlook of the draft. The Giants, who were the lone team with only two wins on the season, don’t have the inside track on the first pick anymore. The New England Patriots take over the first slot with a week to go, according to Tankathon. The Giants’ win moved them out of the top two for the moment, perhaps pushing them out of position to get a top quarterback in the draft, or costing them extra picks in a trade up.

There can be a reasonable argument to be made that the first pick isn’t worth it anyway. Miami’s Cam Ward and Sanders are the top quarterback draft prospects, and there’s skepticism about them both. Neither is a sure franchise quarterback. But the Giants were at least going to have their pick of the two if they secured No. 1. Now, they’ll likely need to wait and see what falls to them, or if anyone leaps over them in a trade to get Ward or Sanders.

It’s hard to have hope without a quarterback. The last time the Giants were in the market to draft a quarterback in the top 10, they overdrafted Daniel Jones at No. 6 overall. That led to six wasted seasons as the Giants hoped Jones would develop into a top-tier player. And when the Giants finally threw in the towel on Jones, cutting him during this season, they went back to square one. But until Sunday, the hope was they’d have a few months to figure out if Ward or Sanders was the right quarterback to lead the team into the next few years and hopefully beyond. Now they’re at the mercy of what happens with the teams before them. Or perhaps they’ll catch some breaks in Week 18 and move back up.

It’s just a reminder that teams don’t tank. Players don’t care about getting an optimal draft pick because that new player might take their job. All coaches focus on is winning, as Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce pointed out to everyone last week when he said, “We don’t do this for anybody’s draft projections.”

The Giants got a win and the locker room will be a happier place this week. The sadness for the front office might be felt in April.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 17 of the NFL season:

WINNERS

Sam Darnold: With every game, Darnold is making money on his next contract.

If you have been waiting for Darnold to turn into a pumpkin, he made you wait another week. Darnold threw for 377 yards and the Minnesota Vikings held on to beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25. The Vikings will play the Detroit Lions next week with the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line.

Darnold was very good, as he has been most of the season. He had three touchdowns. Darnold is on just a one-year deal, and the Vikings have a difficult decision to make in the offseason, considering they have first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy coming back from a knee injury. If Darnold continues this level of play the rest of the season he’s going to get paid a lot, whether it’s from the Vikings or someone else

Kenny Pickett: He has already entered the phase of his career in which every opportunity to play matters.

The former first-round draft pick is trying to revive his career after his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers ended poorly and abruptly. The Dallas Cowboys aren’t the toughest opponent these days, but they had been playing fairly well of late. And Pickett was impressive in a 41-7 win. He left the game due to an injury in the third quarter after taking a hit from Micah Parsons, but he had already helped the Eagles to a 27-7 lead by then. He did his job and then some. Saquon Barkley, who passed the 2,000-yard mark on the season, helped bring it home. Barkley had 167 yards on 31 carries and is 101 yards from breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season record. And the Eagles finish next week with … the Giants, Barkley’s old team.

Pickett, filling in because Jalen Hurts was out due to a concussion, had 133 yards and a passing touchdown in the first half, and a rushing touchdown on a Tush Push on the final play of the second quarter. The Eagles needed to keep winning to maintain their lead in the NFC East (they hadn’t clinched heading into Week 17) and to keep chasing the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Pickett had his number called on Sunday, and he came through. It’s the kind of performance that can keep Pickett earning contracts.

Lamar Jackson’s MVP chances: Josh Allen might still lead the MVP race, but he didn’t do anything to pull away either.

Allen had a perfectly fine Week 17. The Buffalo Bills destroyed the New York Jets 40-14. Allen had two touchdowns including one on a nice catch by Amari Cooper. The Bills pulled Allen in the fourth quarter, preferring to not pad his stats late in a blowout. He had 182 passing yards and 17 rushing yards. The Bills won big, but it was a second straight quiet performance on the stat sheet for Allen.

There was nothing wrong with Allen’s performance, but stats matter when Jackson has been on fire lately. The Bills might not care about Allen’s stats or the MVP, considering they are one of the best teams in the NFL and are a threat to win a Super Bowl as the AFC’s No. 2 seed. They proved that again by wrecking the Jets.

It’s a two-man race for the MVP award, and maybe three or four if Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals make the playoffs or if Saquon Barkley breaks Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Allen had a huge lead just a couple weeks ago. The race seems to be very close with a week to go. And Allen might not play next week because the Bills clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC with the win on Sunday.

Baker Mayfield: He has been so good with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that Mayfield is probably going to get his offensive coordinator a head-coaching job for the second straight season.

Mayfield has had a fantastic season, with Liam Coen calling plays and rising up the board of potential head coaches in the offseason, and he played well again in a dominant 48-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Mayfield had 359 yards and five touchdowns. He has 39 touchdown passes this season with a week to go.

The Buccaneers have a good shot to win the NFC South, and they won’t be an easy out in the wild-card round. Mayfield, whose career stalled just a couple years ago, is now playing like one of the best QBs in the league.

LOSERS

All fans at Browns-Dolphins: Imagine sitting in the rain in late December in Cleveland to watch Dorian Thompson-Robinson face off against Tyler Huntley.

Those who sat it out deserve a pat on the back, even if they’ll never get those three hours back. The Dolphins won 20-3 to stay alive in the AFC wild-card race. The Browns were horrible on offense, which has been the case whenever Thompson-Robinson has started. Huntley played well in place of Tua Tagovailoa, throwing for 225 yards and a touchdown, and rushing for another 53 and a score.

The Browns, who fell to 3-13, were long ago eliminated from the playoff race. Their fans will hope for better results next season. That’s not happening unless the team figures out a more viable option at quarterback.

Tennessee Titans, with a silver lining: The Titans have been absolutely awful through December. They haven’t won a game all month. On Sunday they played the Jacksonville Jaguars, one of the worst teams in football, and lost 20-13.

But it might turn out OK. The Titans keep moving up the draft order — the Jaguars winning helps the Titans’ draft position, so it was a double dip for Tennessee in its loss — and they need a quarterback. Will Levis was benched and it’s hard to believe Tennessee would be happy going into 2025 with him as a prominent part of their plans. If the Titans can get high enough in the draft to pick Ward or Sanders, all the losses won’t feel so bad.

Overall, nothing that has happened in Brian Callahan’s first season as Titans head coach can be considered good news for the franchise.

New Orleans Saints: For some teams that finish the season poorly, there’s hope in the offseason. Is there much hope for the Saints?

The Saints are so bad, they were beat 25-10 at home by a Las Vegas Raiders team that was 3-12 coming in. New Orleans’ late-season issues, which included being shut out on Monday night of Week 16 by the Green Bay Packers, can be blamed in large part on injuries. That doesn’t mean the outlook for next season is much better.

The Saints can’t feel great about the quarterback position with Derek Carr. They are again way over the salary cap, so some cuts will be coming. There’s some young talent on the roster but not so much that there’s a realistic goal of a quick rebound in 2025.

Sunday was another bad day for the Saints. There are probably many more to come.