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Nfl Draft 2026 What Giants Win Over Raiders Means For The No 1 Pick

Bonisiwe Shabane
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nfl draft 2026 what giants win over raiders means for the no 1 pick

Game update (Sunday evening): With the Giants winning, the Raiders are now in the driver’s seat to secure the No. 1 pick in Week 18.Game update (Sunday afternoon): The Giants are now closer to securing the No. 1 pick here in Week 17. With the Browns defeating the Steelers, and both the Buccaneers and Colts losing, New York will clinch the No. 1 pick with a loss to the Raiders. While teams are jockeying for division titles and playoff seeding here in Week 17, the race for the No.

1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft reaches a critical moment this weekend. The New York Giants and the Las Vegas Raiders are squaring off Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, and with both teams having matching 2-13 records, the loser of this game will be in prime position... And theoretically, one of those teams could clinch the first-overall selection this weekend. Here is what Sunday’s game between the Raiders and the Giants means for the No. 1 pick next spring. If the 2026 NFL Draft began today, the Raiders would have the No.

2 pick, right behind the Giants. While the teams have matching records, New York would get the top pick thanks to an easier schedule. Under NFL rules, when teams have matching records, the team with the easier schedule gets the better pick. The Giants have a Strength of Schedule of .530, while the Raiders have a Strength of Schedule of .542. The Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants are a combined 5-27 on the season. While that sounds like doom and gloom, there’s a silver lining: both franchises remain in contention for the No.

1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft–and the chance to select Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Week 17’s “Stinker Bowl” between the NFL’s only two-win teams went to the Giants, who cruised to a 34-10 victory and snapped a nine-game losing streak in the process. The result flipped the draft order, putting Las Vegas in the driver’s seat for the top selection heading into the final week. Here’s everything you need to know about the No. 1 pick scenarios for Week 18. The Raiders control their own destiny.

Las Vegas clinches the No. 1 overall pick with: It’s that simple. Pete Carroll’s squad doesn’t need any help, just one more loss in a season full of them. If the Raiders somehow beat Kansas City, the No. 1 pick would go to a strength-of-schedule tiebreaker, and Las Vegas would likely fall to No.

2. Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll watches his team warm up before an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) The Las Vegas Raiders will pick first in this year’s NFL draft after the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys 34-17 on Sunday. The Giants’ victory assured that the Raiders, who were 2-14 entering their Sunday home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, would have the worst record.

If the Giants (4-13) had lost to Dallas, Las Vegas only would have secured the top pick with a loss to the Chiefs. New York’s victory made that outcome irrelevant for the Raiders as it relates to the draft. This is just the second time the Raiders have had the top pick. The then-Oakland Raiders selected quarterback JaMarcus Russell out of LSU with the No. 1 choice in 2007. He became one of the franchise’s top draft busts.

The No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft is officially set. Because the Giants defeated the Cowboys in Week 18, the lowly Raiders will have the first selection in Pittsburgh this April, as confirmed by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Last year, the Raiders used the sixth overall pick to select Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. With the Giants win today, the Las Vegas Raiders now have clinched the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.The Raiders are now on the clock.

Starting Raiders quarterback Geno Smith is under contract through the 2027 season, but Vegas still needs a solution to its long-term QB problem, especially with Smith's poor play in 2025 (case in point: as... That in mind, it's widely believed that the team will select Heisman-winning Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza with its top pick. Mendoza has not yet declared for the draft, as he is in the middle of the College Football Playoff, but it's very likely he will. Week 18 outcomes locked the 2026 NFL Draft Top 10, with Las Vegas first and the Jets moving up to No. 2 thanks to the Giants' win over the Cowboys. With nearly the entire 2025 NFL regular season in the books, the Top 10 in the 2026 NFL Draft is set.

The Las Vegas Raiders clinched the top pick Sunday when the New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys in Week 18, even though the Raiders beat the Chiefs. The New York Jets moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 thanks to their loss to the Buffalo Bills coupled with the Giants' win. The only other time the Raiders had the No. 1 pick in the draft, they selected quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007.

They're hoping they don't repeat history with that disastrous selection. The same is true for the Jets, who took quarterback Zach Wilson with the No. 2 pick in 2021, the only other time the team held the No. 2 pick in the past 35 years. The Las Vegas Raiders secured the No. 1 pick and the Jets jumped to No.

2 as the Top 10 in the 2026 NFL Draft is set after Week 18 results. The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Rams and moved up from No. 5 entering Week 18 to No. 3. Arizona benefited from the Giants' loss plus a change in the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker that jumped the Cardinals ahead of the Tennessee Titans. The Raiders clinched the first-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft before they even took the field on Sunday.

As the Raiders closed out one of the worst seasons in franchise history, the team received some good news, thanks to the Giants defeating the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, 34-17, solidifying the Raiders’ spot... Las Vegas will now make the first pick in April’s draft for the first time since 2007, when they took JaMarcus Russell out of LSU with the selection, and they’ll be looking at possibly... 1 pick. Geno Smith is currently under contract with the Raiders through 2028, but had a league-worst 17 interceptions this season. The Raiders entered their season finale against the Chiefs at 2-14, which is tied for the most losses in a season in the organization’s history — a feat set in 2016 — and they’ve... Will the Raiders add a potential franchise quarterback to their impressive collection of young offensive talent?

Alex Slitz / Getty Images Despite snapping a 10-game losing streak by beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders secured the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The New York Giants’ 34-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys earlier in Week 18 locked up that top slot for Las Vegas (3-14), although the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans finished... Per NFL rules, draft order is determined by record, with strength of schedule used as a tiebreaker; among teams with the same record, the team that faced the weakest schedule picks first. Using that same tiebreaker, the Jets clinched the No.

2 pick with their loss Sunday in Buffalo. The Cardinals and Titans will hold picks No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. The Raiders had been the NFL’s lone two-win team entering Sunday, thanks in no small part to their blowout Week 17 loss to the New York Giants. By winning their final two games of the regular season, the Giants fell to the No.

5 pick. Cleveland, Washington, New Orleans, Kansas City and Cincinnati round out the top 10, in that order. The Raiders have previously held the No. 1 pick just once since the NFL-AFL merger: In 2007, they selected QB JaMarcus Russell out of LSU. The organization also held the top pick in the 1962 AFL draft, which it used on NC State quarterback Roman Gabriel, who instead signed with the Los Angeles Rams after getting selected No. 2 in the 1962 NFL Draft.

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