The San Francisco 49ers have now won four of their last five games and three straight since Jimmy Garoppolo was named the starting quarterback. Each win boosts confidence among the 49ers players as the team closes out the season. Of course, the only downside is that each win hurts the 49ers potential draft position next year.

With the 49ers' franchise quarterback finally identified, draft status isn't as vital as it once was. Still, the 4-10 team dropped from the number three spot to fourth in the draft order following its 25-23 victory over the Tennessee Titans. The positioning is based on if the season ended today -- which, in case you were wondering, it does not.

Ahead of San Francisco are the still-winless Cleveland Browns, the New York Giants, and now the Indianapolis Colts. The Browns own the Houston Texans' first-round pick. Houston and the Chicago Bears each have four wins like the 49ers, but San Francisco benefits from a weaker strength of schedule.

How high the 49ers will actually select will be determined by the rest of the season and their final record.


Monday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have no bearing on the teams within the top five spots of the projected draft order. However, it will have a slight impact on the draft position of teams after that. A Falcons victory would cause the Buccaneers and Chicago Bears to swap spots. A Buccaneers victory would drop them to the 10th-overall position.

Below is the current draft order, based on playoff seeding (21-32), record, and strength of schedule (SOS) for all 32 first-round spots if the season ended today. Of course, the order of the bottom 12 teams will eventually be determined by the playoff results and Super Bowl winner.

Team W-L SOS
1 Cleveland Browns 0-14 .510
2 New York Giants 2-12 .544
3 Indianapolis Colts 3-11 .495
4 San Francisco 49ers 4-10 .485
5 Cleveland Browns (from Texans) 4-10 .505
6 Chicago Bears 4-10 .582
7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-9 .536
8 Cincinnati Bengals 5-9 .459
9 Denver Broncos 5-9 .480
10 New York Jets 5-9 .515
11 Oakland Raiders 6-8 .485
12 Arizona Cardinals 6-8 .508
13 Miami Dolphins 6-8 .546
14 Washington Redskins 6-8 .571
15 Los Angeles Chargers 7-7 .485
16 Green Bay Packers 7-7 .510
17 Dallas Cowboys 8-6 .456
18 Baltimore Ravens 8-6 .464
19 Seattle Seahawks 8-6 .482
20 Detroit Lions 8-6 .495
21 Buffalo Bills 8-6 --
22 Atlanta Falcons 8-5 --
23 Tennessee Titans 8-6 --
24 Carolina Panthers 10-4 --
25 Buffalo Bills (from Chiefs) 8-6 --
26 New Orleans Saints 10-4 --
27 Jacksonville Jaguars 10-4 --
28 Los Angeles Rams 10-4 --
29 Pittsburgh Steelers 11-3 --
30 Minnesota Vikings 11-3 --
31 New England Patriots 11-3 --
32 Philadelphia Eagles 12-2 --

* 21-32 based on projected playoff seeding, not record or strength of schedule
** Trades show the record of the origin team
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