Just thinking about the draft and wanted to get the ball rolling. 

Also, I didn't want people to have any reason to secretly hope for a Charger win Sunday.  To me, that is unacceptable.  I hate the Chargers, hate their players, hate the team, hate (most) of their fans, hate their stadium, hate the experts who man-love them every year, and hate their temperate weather all year round (I mean - how do they know when it's football season if there is never a september chill in the air? - Oh wait - that's why they always come out flat...).  

Here are the teams with 5 or fewer wins, this matters because Denver cannot win more than 5 games:

In a lucky break - Minnesota is playing Detroit, and Arizona is playing San Francisco.  That means of the possible 11 spots Denver could move around in (because 5 is the highest number of wins we could end up with) 2 teams will jump up to at least 6 wins and leave only 9 spots for top draft picking (then there will be some strength of schedule breakers that aren't decided yet).  Of course, we can't pick first, but you knew that.

So Denver will at worst have a top-9 pick - just not number 1.  Pretty interesting.

Week 17 gives the following matchups with the teams we are interested in BOLD:

Hou v. Jax - Houston at home playing for pride.  I have a feeling Jax blows this game and Hou comes away with some pride to end the season.  That means we are down to a top-8 pick.

Cleveland v. Pitt - Cleveland at home is dangerous in its division (ask Pitt last year). But pitt is playing for the division and maybe 2nd seed. I think Pitt goes nuts and beats Cleveland.  Stay at top-8 pick.

Dallas at Phi.  Tuesday night is important here. If Philly wins Tuesday, it will change their motivation depending on the outcome of other NFC games. They may take the last week easy because they got the bye - or they may have to settle for division win and be locked in place regardless.  Either way, it is very possible for Dallas to rise up and win this.  Top 7-pick.

Bills at Jets.  Jets may not be playing for a lot next week.  I'm not sure, but I don't think they can change seeds now, unless pitt falls to the wildcard.  Rex said Sanchez might not play.  Bills are tough, so if Jets take it easy = Top 6 pick for Broncos.

Cincy at Balt.  Baltimore will be playing hard for division title - they play at the same time as Pitt so they won't know that result.  Stay at top-6 pick.

Carolina - doesn't matter. They get the top pick.

So, we get a top-9 pick regardless.  A top-6 pick at worst if the above scenarios play out.

And if we lose to the chargers - we can't do worse than 4th. Although I read somewhere that we "win" the 2nd pick if we tie Cincy and Buffalo because we had the lowest strength of schedule. Which means we get second pick if all three lose. 

But we should all get on board to beat the chargers knowing that we can't do worse than 9 - but will more likely have a top-5 pick even if we win. 

That is a big win for a team that has been average for so long that we never get to pick a big time player.  Let's win this game and go into the offseason juiced up!