While the Patriots enjoyed their bye week, they managed to improve their draft position.

The New England Patriots may have enjoyed their bye, but they still managed to emerge Week 14 of the NFL regular season as winners.

Thanks to the Jacksonville Jaguars celebrating a 10-6 win over the Tennessee Titans, the team of rookie head coach Jerod Mayo managed to improve its outlook for the 2025 NFL Draft. After entering the weekend in fourth position on the table, they have now moved up into the third spot.

At the moment, only the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants — both owners of 2-11 records — are leading the 3-10 Patriots.

With all but one Week 14 games done, here is the updated top of the draft table according to @tankathon. The Patriots move up one spot into the third overall pick with four games left. pic.twitter.com/MaWJ2CX24c

— Bernd Buchmasser (@BerndBuchmasser) December 9, 2024

Even with one game left in Week 14 — a primetime matchup between the 4-8 Cincinnati Bengals and 5-7 Dallas Cowboys — the Patriots will leave their bye as one of six three-win teams. Due to their inferior strength of schedule, however, they enjoy an advantage over their competitors, including the aforementioned Jaguars.

While the Patriots ending up with the No. 1 draft pick seems unlikely given the ineptitude shown by the Giants in particular, they are well-positioned to pick in the top 3 for a second year in a row. For a franchise in need of all the talent it can get, that is a good position to be in.

That is particularly true considering who is picking ahead of them at the moment: both the Raiders and Giants are in dire need of quarterback help. If passers indeed go 1-2 in April, New England would be in a position to pick up the best overall player on their board or manipulate it to their liking by trading down.

Either way, the plot thickens with only four games on their and their competitors’ schedules.