NFL teams always insist they would never tank for a better draft pick. But teams with a high draft pick on the line can and do choose to give plenty of playing time to inexperienced backups, and that’s exactly what the Raiders will do on Sunday, with the top pick in the draft on the line.
If the Raiders lose to the Chiefs, they will be picked first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. Raiders coach Pete Carroll said he plans to give playing time to all active players, including the two backup quarterbacks, Aidan O’Connell and Kenny Pickett.
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“Everyone is going to play and I hope it goes well,” Carroll said. “It’s not always the case, good plans don’t always come to fruition, but we have plans for these guys to get in there and get their playing time. Really excited to see them. Excited to see them play.”
Among the Raiders who will not play are starting quarterback Geno Smith and the Raiders’ two best players, defensive end Maxx Crosby and tight end Brock Bowers. They are injured, even though Crosby has made it clear he wants to play despite his knee injury and the The Raiders arrested him against his will. If there’s one player on the team who would play to win any game, it’s Crosby. But the Raiders won’t let him play.
As long as the draft is ordered by giving the highest pick to the team with the worst record, teams will have an incentive to lose. If the NFL wanted, it could change the order of the draft in a way that incentivizes teams to exit the playoff race and keep winning. For example, non-playoff teams that finished the regular season with the longest winning streaks could get the top picks. That would generate a lot of interest in Sunday’s Saints-Falcons game: Both teams aren’t in playoff contention, but the Saints are on a four-game winning streak and the Falcons are on a three-game winning streak. Reward teams with high picks if they continue to play hard after exiting the playoff race, and the NFL would both eliminate tanking and make Week 18 more exciting.
But as it stands, there’s a lot of incentive to tank because the highest pick goes to the worst team. For his part, Carroll insists his team is simply bad, not intentionally bad.
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“I never even imagined it would be like this,” Carroll said. “These guys will keep working and they’ll stay at it. They don’t want to accept it. They want to just focus on the next opportunity that comes along.”
The Raiders have a big opportunity Sunday, not to win on the field, but to win while losing.
