The Patriots not being involved in the divisional round of the playoffs is unusual enough.
Having them involved so early in next year’s annual selection meeting will be peculiar as well.
With the results of the wild card weekend in the books, four more slots in the 2020 NFL Draft order have been filled in.
The Eagles will pick 21st, followed by the Bills 22nd, the Patriots 23rd, and the Saints 24th.
While the Patriots move around the draft order as much as any team in the league, and they might again, their own pick hasn’t been this high in years.
They’ve had higher selections from other teams through trades, but they haven’t used their own selection this early in the order since they took Laurence Maroney with the 21st overall pick in 2006.
Here’s a look at the order of the top 24 teams. The next four slots will go to the losers of next week’s divisional round games:
1. Bengals (2-14)
2. Washington (3-13)
3. Lions (3-12-1)
4. Giants (4-12)
5 Dolphins (5-11)
6. Chargers (5-11)
7. Panthers (5-11)
8. Cardinals (5-10-1)
9. Jaguars (6-10)
10. Browns (6-10)
11. Jets (7-9)
12. Raiders (7-9)
13. Colts (7-9)
14. Buccaneers (7-9)
15. Broncos (7-9)
16. Falcons (7-9)
17. Cowboys (8-8)
18. Dolphins (via Pittsburgh 8-8)
19. Raiders (via Bears 8-8)
20. Jaguars (via Rams 9-7)
21. Eagles (9-7)
22. Bills (10-6)
23. Patriots (12-4)
24. Saints (13-3)