UPDATE: The Vikings defeated the Packers on Sunday, meaning the Eagles are locked in as the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed. That also means they could rest their starters next week at home against the Giants, with the possibility that another Giants win — and a 4-13 finish — would result in them moving up in the NFL draft order fall even further behind in 2025. Already on Sunday they fell from first to fourth place.

***

The Giants fell from first to third in the 2025 NFL Draft order by defeating the Colts on Sunday.

They could fall further.

That’s because a late-afternoon loss by the Browns on Sunday would drop the Giants to fourth place. (Fortunately for the Giants, the Raiders won again on Sunday, picking up four wins.)

But what if the Eagles rest their starters at home against the Giants in Week 18? Could the Giants pull off another win against the Eagles’ reserves? If this is the case, they could still be included in the draft regulation.

At this point, there are four three-win teams at the top of the draft: Patriots, Titans, Giants and Browns. Then there are these 4-12 teams from Nos. 5-9: Jaguars, Jets, Panthers, Raiders and Bears.

The Giants currently lose the strength of the schedule tiebreaker to every team in the top nine except the Bears. That means there’s a chance the Giants could fall very far behind if they beat the Eagles’ backups in Week 18.

As for the top nine (any team with three or four wins in Week 18), five of them will or could be in the mix for a quarterback – Titans, Giants, Browns, Jets and Raiders.

The Eagles, who won the NFC East with a win over the Cowboys on Sunday, will be locked in as the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed if either the Vikings or Lions win this week. (The Eagles need both teams to lose to stay in the fight for the No. 1 seed.)

While the Lions don’t play until Monday evening, the Vikings take on the Packers late on Sunday afternoon. The Lions have a winnable game against the 49ers.

So there’s a good chance the Eagles have nothing to play for in Week 18 – at least as far as playoff positioning is concerned.

Of course, it’s always about ex-Giants running back Saquon Barkley chasing the NFL’s single-season rushing record. He currently has 2,005 yards — 101 fewer than Eric Dickerson’s record, set in 16 games in 1984. (Barkley still has Game 17 left.)

This is a tough situation for the Eagles if they come out of Week 17 with nothing to play for. Ideally, they would give the starters a break. But if Barkley breaks the single-season rushing record against the team that just let him in free agency, that would be quite a storyline to miss.