Week 10 of the NFL season is going to be notable for a number of reasons.
The Cowboys and Falcons will fight to try to stay in the NFC Wild Card race. The Broncos will aim to take down the Patriots to right the ship of their sinking season. Ryan Fitzpatrick will get a chance to exact some revenge on the team that effectively fired him. The Bears and Packers and Seahawks and Cardinals will renew their division rivalries.
But none of that pales in comparison to what is set to go down at 4:25 p.m. ET in Santa Clara.
The San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants will clash in a game that has huge ramifications regarding the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
It’s a bit sad that we’re already talking about the Draft during the first week of November, but the Browns, 49ers and Giants are all at the point that they don’t have anything to play for. The season was supposed to be a disaster for Cleveland and San Francisco. Things weren’t supposed to be this bad in New York.
The Brandon Marshall signing turned out to be a complete waste. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins have both been suspended by the team. Odell Beckham’s mouth logged more action than his legs.
And then there was this.
Things have gotten so bad in the Big Apple that Eli Manning is only a -160 favorite to start the Giants’ final seven games of the year.
Though most in the mainstream media only see this as a two-team race for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, a San Francisco win over the Giants this week will give an inside lane to Big Blue. The Giants finish up the season with games against Kansas City, at Washington, at Oakland, vs. Dallas, vs. Philadelphia, at Arizona and vs. Washington. The team will be at least a field goal underdog in all of those games, especially if Manning does end up getting shut down for the season to give Davis Webb a chance to strut his stuff.
Still, the overwhelming favorite to finish with the top pick in the NFL Draft is Cleveland. The Browns are 0-8, have the league’s second-worst scoring offense and the No. 28 scoring defense. They’ve already been through three different quarterbacks this season, and they whiffed on a trade that would have brought A.J. McCarron to town.
The team that passed on Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson is still counting on DeShone Kizer under center. Kizer is completing 52.1 percent of his passes, is averaging 5.4 yards per pass attempt and has three touchdowns against 11 interceptions. Literally one in every 20 passes Kizer tosses is being picked off.
Even Johnny Manziel wasn’t that bad. Hell, even Tim Tebow wasn’t that bad.
Cleveland still has just one win under Hue Jackson, and it’s hard to see where another one is coming from this year. The team is a double-digit underdog at Detroit in Week 10, and it will surely be a massive underdog against Jacksonville, Cincinnati and the Chargers to follow. Perhaps the last four weeks of the season will offer some respite with the Browns playing the Packers and Ravens at home and the Bears and Steelers on the road, the latter of which comes in Week 17 when Pittsburgh could have nothing to play for.
BetDSI.eu spokesman Jacob Crossman spoke with GetMoreSports about the odds the sportsbook set on Monday regarding the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
“With Indianapolis winning on Sunday in Houston, this really became a three-team race for the top pick,” Crossman said. “Our numbers suggest that Cleveland clearly has the best chance of finishing with the worst record in football.”
Crossman also warned that this week will be huge in determining the fate of all three teams in the chase for No. 1.
“If the 49ers beat the Giants on Sunday, Cleveland will become an odds-on favorite to grab the top pick,” Crossman stated. “Should New York win the game, we’re looking at a scenario right around a pick ’em between San Francisco and Cleveland.”
You can bet on which team will finish with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft this week at Diamond Sportsbook.
Odds to Pick No. 1 Overall in the 2018 NFL Draft
Cleveland Browns +150
San Francisco 49ers +300
New York Giants +600
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +2500
Indianapolis Colts +6000
Field +10000
