At one point this season, the San Francisco 49ers were on pace to own the second-overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft. The team saw drastic improvement once Jimmy Garoppolo, who was acquired via a trade on October 30, was inserted as the starting quarterback. With Garoppolo at the helm of the offense, the 49ers won their final five games of the season and, as a team, won six of their last seven games to finish with a 6-10 record.
The 34-13 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday means the 49ers move down another spot in the draft order, which is now finalized for selections 1 through 20 pending any future trades. Spots 21 through 32 will be determined based on the final playoff results.
The 49ers now sit at the ninth-overall spot, which is one place lower than last week. However, they are tied with the Oakland Raiders, who own the same record and strength of schedule as the 49ers. That means a coin flip is in both team's futures to determine which club selects ninth and which selects tenth.
The coin flip will take place at the NFL Scouting Combine in February.
Of course, the top-overall pick belongs to the Cleveland Browns, who became just the second NFL team in the history of the league to finish 0-16 (2008 Detroit Lions). The Browns also own the fourth-overall pick, which originally belonged to the Houston Texans.
Below is the current draft order, based on playoff seeding (21-32), record, and strength of schedule (SOS) for all 32 first-round spots. As mentioned, the order of the bottom 12 teams will eventually be determined by the playoff results and Super Bowl winner.
| Team | W-L | SOS | |
| 1 | Cleveland Browns | 0-16 | .520 |
| 2 | New York Giants | 3-13 | .531 |
| 3 | Indianapolis Colts | 4-12 | .480 |
| 4 | Cleveland Browns (from Texans) | 4-12 | .516 |
| 5 | Denver Broncos | 5-11 | .492 |
| 6 | New York Jets | 5-11 | .520 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5-11 | .555 |
| 8 | Chicago Bears | 5-11 | .559 |
| 9 | San Francisco 49ers | 6-10 | .512 |
| Oakland Raiders | 6-10 | .512 | |
| 11 | Miami Dolphins | 6-10 | .543 |
| 12 | Cincinnati Bengals | 7-9 | .465 |
| 13 | Green Bay Packers | 7-9 | .539 |
| Washington Redskins | 7-9 | .539 | |
| 15 | Arizona Cardinals | 8-8 | .488 |
| 16 | Baltimore Ravens | 9-7 | .441 |
| 17 | Los Angeles Chargers | 9-7 | .457 |
| 18 | Seattle Seahawks | 9-7 | .492 |
| 19 | Dallas Cowboys | 9-7 | .496 |
| Detroit Lions | 9-7 | .496 | |
| 21 | Buffalo Bills | 9-7 | -- |
| 22 | Atlanta Falcons | 10-6 | -- |
| 23 | Tennessee Titans | 9-7 | -- |
| 24 | Carolina Panthers | 11-5 | -- |
| 25 | Buffalo Bills (from Chiefs) | 10-6 | -- |
| 26 | New Orleans Saints | 11-5 | -- |
| 27 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 10-6 | -- |
| 28 | Los Angeles Rams | 11-5 | -- |
| 29 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 13-3 | -- |
| 30 | Minnesota Vikings | 13-3 | -- |
| 31 | Philadelphia Eagles | 13-3 | -- |
| 32 | New England Patriots | 13-3 | -- |
* 21-32 based on projected playoff seeding, not record or strength of schedule
** Trades show the record of the origin team
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