How Week 18 can affect the Seahawks’ 2025 draft picks

The Seattle Seahawks are no longer in the hunt for the playoffs, but their Week 18 game against the Los Angeles Rams isn’t meaningless.

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This weekend’s matchup with the Rams and the results of a few other games will determine exactly where the Seahawks will be picking in the 2025 NFL Draft, which brings up an interesting question for the team. Is it better the Seahawks to get the victory to eclipse last year’s win total and finish head coach Mike Macdonald’s first year on a high note? Or is it better if they lose and improve their chances at a higher draft pick?

Well, it may not matter too much when it’s all said and done. According to NFL.com, the Seahawks’ draft position can only change by up to two spots this weekend. As things stand, they currently hold the No. 18 selection, the lowest pick available for a non-playoff team. The highest they can rise to is No. 16, which is where the team picked in the 2024 draft.

The most simple scenario is a Seahawks win. That would keep them locked in at No. 18 overall and make them the first team to miss the playoffs with 10 wins since the NFL expanded the playoffs to 14 teams in 2020. A tie would also keep Seattle at No. 18.

A loss would leave open the possibility of moving up by as many as two picks. Seattle would end the season with nine wins and could finish in a tie with up to three non-playoff teams between Miami, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Denver and Tampa Bay – all of whom will be fighting for playoff spots this weekend. Of those teams, Miami, Cincinnati and Atlanta have eight wins, and Denver and Tampa Bay have nine apiece.

So if the Seahawks were to lose while Miami, Cincinnati and Atlanta also lost, they’d be the only nine-win team to miss the playoffs and still pick No. 18. But if the Seahawks lose and any of the five teams mentioned above miss the playoffs with nine wins, then the draft picks would be decided by tiebreakers.

The first tiebreaker for determining draft picks is strength of schedule. The team with the easier schedule is awarded the higher draft pick. Here’s how the Seahawks and the five teams rank in strength of schedule heading into the weekend, according to Tankathon.

• Atlanta .51838
• Seattle .50368
• Tampa Bay .50368
• Denver .50000
• Cincinnati .47794
• Miami .41544

The next tiebreaker is head-to-head matchups. The Seahawks beat Denver, Miami and Atlanta, so those teams would get the better draft pick in that scenario.

The remaining tiebreakers for draft picks vary depending on if the teams are in the same division, same conference or different conferences. You can find a detailed breakdown of what those tiebreakers are here.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

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• The three losses for 2024 Seahawks that sting the most
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