NFL Playoff Scenarios For Week 17
The final week of the regular season is upon us.
Here’s the official rundown of NFL playoff scenarios as we get set for Week 17:
AFC
Clinched:
Ravens – AFC North division & home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs
Texans – AFC South division
Chiefs – AFC West division
Patriots – AFC East division
Bills – playoff berth
Chiefs clinch a first-round bye with:
Chiefs win + Patriots loss
New England clinches a first-round bye with:
Patriots win or tie OR
Chiefs loss or tie
Raiders clinch a playoff berth with:
Raiders win + Steelers loss + Titans loss + Colts win + Raiders clinch strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Steelers*
*Raiders clinch strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Steelers if ONE of the following teams win or tie:
Bears, Lions, Chargers, or Patriots
Steelers clinch a playoff berth with:
Steelers win + Titans loss or tie OR
Steelers tie + Titans loss OR
Titans loss + Colts win + Raiders loss or tie OR
Titans loss + Colts win + Steelers tie Raiders in strength-of-victory tiebreaker*
*Steelers ties Raiders in strength-of-victory tiebreaker if ALL of the following teams win:
Vikings, Packers, Chiefs, and Dolphins
Titans clinch a playoff berth with:
Titans win OR
Titans tie + Steelers loss or tie OR
Steelers loss + Colts loss or tie
NFC
Clinched:
Packers – NFC North division
Saints – NFC South division
Vikings — playoff berth
49ers — playoff berth
Seahawks — playoff berth
Cowboys clinch NFC East division with:
Cowboys win + Eagles loss
Packers clinch a first-round bye with:
Packers win OR
Saints loss OR
Packers tie + San Francisco loss OR
Packers tie + Saints tie
Packers clinch home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs with:
Packers win + San Francisco loss or tie OR
Packers tie +San Francisco loss + Saints loss or tie
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (12-3) (at Carolina (5-10); 1:00 PM ET, FOX)
Saints clinch a first-round bye with:
Saints win + Packers loss or tie OR
Saints win + 49ers loss or tie OR
Saints tie +Packers loss OR
Saints tie + 49ers loss OR
49ers loss +Packers win or tie
Saints clinch homefield advantage throughout NFC playoffs with:
Saints win + Packers loss or tie + 49ers loss or tie OR
Saints tie + Packers loss + 49ers loss
Eagles clinch NFC East division with:
Eagles win or tie OR
Cowboys loss or tie
49ers clinch NFC West division title with:
49ers win or tie
49ers clinch a first-round bye with:
49ers win OR
49ers tie + Packers loss or tie OR
49ers tie + Saints loss or tie
49ers clinch home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs with:
49ers win OR
49ers tie + Packers loss or tie + Saints loss or tie
Seahawks clinch NFC West division with:
Seahawks win
Seahawks clinch a first-round bye with:
Seahawks win + Packers loss
Seahawks clinch home-field advantage throughout NFC playoffs with:
Seahawks win + Packers loss + Saints loss
Reid Convinced Suggs To Come
- Terrell Suggs initially said he’d only play for the Ravens after he was cut by the Cardinals, but when he was claimed by the Chiefs it was immediately reported that he’d be joining Kansas City. What changed? Apparently all it took was a short call with Andy Reid. “I was really uncertain about my future last week, but I talked to Coach and it was a brief conversation and I was like, ‘OK,”’ the veteran pass-rusher said earlier this week, via Adam Teicher of ESPN.com. “I asked Coach, ‘I just learned the hard way that a player like me just [doesn’t] fit in anywhere.’ He was like, ‘Trust me, you’ll fit in here.'” Suggs spent the first 16 years of his career with Baltimore before signing in Arizona this past offseason. Now, he’ll be joining one of the Ravens’ main AFC rivals with a chance at a potential final playoff run.
Chiefs Claim Terrell Suggs
The Chiefs claimed former Cardinals linebacker Terrell Suggs off waivers on Tuesday. The news was first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Initially, it wasn’t clear whether Suggs would be willing to suit up for the Chiefs. After his release, he told people close to him that he would only play for the Ravens, but the opportunity to play for another Super Bowl ring made him reconsider. He will join KC and, in all likelihood, make his Chiefs debut on Sunday against the Bears.
The pickup gives the Chiefs some much needed edge rushing ammo in the wake of Alex Okafor‘s pectoral injury. To date, Suggs has with 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 13 games this year.
Suggs was a popular man on the waiver wire. As Rapoport tweets, the Saints, 49ers, and Seahawks all put in a claim, which makes sense given that all of those teams are dealing with injuries to their own pass rushers. Rapoport says the Ravens may have signed Suggs if he had cleared waivers, but Baltimore did not put in a claim.
Suggs didn’t get the homecoming he wanted, but he fell into a choice situation. Rather than playing out the year for the 4-9-1 Cards, he has the opportunity to aid the 10-4 Chiefs in their quest for a championship.
Suggs was drafted No. 10 overall by the Ravens all the way back in 2003. He spent the next 16 seasons with the team and became a franchise icon, winning Super Bowl XLVII with them and making the Pro Bowl seven times. He remained reasonably productive with seven sacks in 2018, but the Ravens let him walk to Arizona in the spring.
The Chiefs will be responsible for the remainder of Suggs’ one-year, $7MM deal.
Chiefs Place Alex Okafor On IR
The Chiefs picked up another win over the Broncos Sunday, but they also suffered a significant loss. On Monday, they were forced to place defensive end Alex Okafor on injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle.
Okafor signed a three-year, $18MM deal with Kansas City this offseason, and has been playing fairly well as of late. In ten games and nine starts, he’s racked up five sacks. Before that, Okafor spent the previous two years in New Orleans, where he was a full-time starter and key part of the defensive front.
The Chiefs’ defense has started to play a lot better in recent weeks and is hitting a stride, so the timing on this certainly isn’t ideal as they gear up for their playoff run. On a positive note – they’ve claimed Terrell Suggs, who can help to replace Okafor’s presence and pass-rush ability.
Kansas City completely reinvented their pass-rush this offseason, getting rid of Justin Houston and Dee Ford and bringing in Okafor and Frank Clark. A Texas product, Okafor was originally drafted by the Cardinals in the fourth round back in 2013.
Janoris Jenkins Expected To Join Playoff Contender
The Giants waived veteran CB Janoris Jenkins on Friday, and sources tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com that Jenkins is expected to land with a playoff contender shortly and could be playing as soon as next weekend.
The machinations of that remain a little unclear. If a team were to claim Jenkins off waivers, it would be responsible for the roughly $1.2MM that Jenkins is still owed for 2019, and it would technically be obligated to pay him $11.25MM in 2020, but that amount is completely non-guaranteed.
As such, a club that makes a claim on Jenkins is not putting itself at too much financial risk, though teams may prefer to wait until he clears waivers and sign him as a free agent. But as Schefter writes, if Jenkins clears waivers on Monday, he would revert to the Giants’ injured reserve list since he is nursing a minor ankle injury. That means that New York would have to waive him off of IR — which the team would be expected to do — but then Jenkins would be on waivers again until Tuesday.
Regardless, it sounds like the 31-year-old will generate plenty of interest, with the Texans and Chiefs named as potential landing spots. Jenkins logged 84 tackles and matched a career-high of four interceptions through 13 games this year, and across four years with the G-Men, Jackrabbit came away with 12 INTs and one Pro Bowl nod (2016).
Latest On Patrick Mahomes' Hand Injury
Let’s take a look at the latest from several other teams in the West divisions, starting with the status of the Chiefs’ most important player.
- The bruised throwing hand Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered did not turn out to be a significant issue. Mahomes, who said Sunday night his hand “didn’t feel great,” returned to full practice Wednesday. The reigning MVP said (via ESPN.com’s Adam Teicher) Wednesday was the first day he could grip the football, but he’s expected to suit up against the Broncos. Mahomes has battled a sprained ankle and a dislocated kneecap but has missed just two games.
OL Bryan Witzmann Visited Chiefs
Bryan Witzmann had two of his most productive NFL seasons with Kansas City, and the veteran was apparently back in town on Tuesday. Howard Balzer tweets that the lineman visited with the Chiefs today. The team also worked out cornerbacks Kemon Hall and Trevon Mathis.
The former undrafted free agent out of South Dakota State has managed to put together a six-year career, including stints with the Chiefs, Texans, Saints, Cowboys, Vikings, Bears, Browns, Dolphins, and Panthers. He started 13 of his 16 games with the Chiefs in 2017, and he proceeded to appear in 10 games (seven starts) with Chicago in 2018.
Witzmann spent the preseason with the Browns before getting cut in late August. He signed with the Dolphins in mid-September, but was cut less than a week later. He caught on with the Panthers in the end of September, and he went on to appear in two games with Carolina. Witzmann was cut by the Panthers back in November.
Hall, 22, spent much of the preseason with the Chargers. Mathis, 24, had a brief stint with the Vikings organization. The Chiefs currently have three cornerbacks listed on their injury report in Morris Claiborne, Rashad Fenton, and Kendall Fuller.
2020 NFL Draft Order As Of Week 15
With 14 full weeks of the NFL season in the books, the 2020 draft order is beginning to take shape. Here’s the rundown of where things would stand if the 2019 season ended today:
1. Bengals: 1-12
2. Giants: 2-11
3. Redskins: 3-10
4. Dolphins: 3-10
5. Lions: 3-9-1
6. Cardinals: 3-9-1
7. Jaguars: 4-9
8. Falcons: 4-9
9. Jets: 5-8
10. Chargers: 5-8
11. Broncos 5-8
12. Panthers 5-8
13. Eagles 6-7
14. Raiders 6-7
15. Colts 6-7
16. Buccaneers 6-7
17. Browns 6-7
18. Raiders (via Bears) 6-7
19. Titans 8-5
20. Jaguars (via Rams) 8-5
21. Cowboys 6-7
22. Dolphins (via Steelers) 8-5
23. Dolphins (via Texans) 8-5
24. Vikings 9-4
25. Bills 9-4
26. Chiefs 9-4
27. Packers 10-3
28. Seahawks 10-3
29. Patriots 10-3
30. Saints 10-3
31. Ravens 11-2
32. 49ers 11-2
Damien Williams Out Against Patriots
- The Chiefs‘ New England visits over the past two seasons have included monster stat lines from their running back corps. While the player responsible for most of that production (Kareem Hunt) is long gone, the Chiefs will also be without starter Damien Williams for Sunday’s Patriots game. Kansas City’s Hunt successor remains out due to a rib injury, set to miss a second straight game. The Chiefs placed Darrel Williams on IR earlier this week and will take a LeSean McCoy–Spencer Ware–Darwin Thompson contingent to Foxborough.
NFL Suspends Chiefs’ Breeland Speaks
The NFL has suspended Chiefs defensive lineman Breeland Speaks, as Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a four-game ban for Speaks, though he’s on injured reserve and done for the year anyway. 
Speaks landed on IR after injuring his knee in a preseason game against the Texans. He’ll spend the offseason healing up, with an eye on bouncing back in 2020.
The former second-round pick played in every game last year for the Chiefs. He finished out with 24 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.
Speaks still has two full years to go on his rookie deal, tying him to KC through the 2021 season.