Patriots lose their third spot in the NFL waiver claim order

Posted by author September 24, 2024 NFL

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At least for now, the days of the New England Patriots owning the third spot in the NFL waiver claim order are over. With the first three weeks of the regular season in the books, the league has now changed how the priority order will be determined.

While the 2024 draft order was used throughout the offseason up until Monday, the current standings are now the deciding factor. And despite dropping to 1-2 in Week 3, the Patriots are still ahead of several teams in that regard.

The top of the waiver claim order, after all, currently looks as follows:

NFL waiver claim order: Week 4

Position	Team	Record	Win %	SOS
Position	Team	Record	Win %	SOS
1	Tennessee Titans	0-3	0.000	0.556
1	Jacksonville Jaguars	0-3	0.000	0.556
3	Cincinnati Bengals	0-3	0.000	0.667
4	Cleveland Browns	1-2	0.333	0.222
5	Chicago Bears	1-2	0.333	0.333
6	Dallas Cowboys	1-2	0.333	0.444
6	Las Vegas Raiders	1-2	0.333	0.444
6	Los Angeles Rams	1-2	0.333	0.444
9	Baltimore Ravens	1-2	0.333	0.556
9	Indianapolis Colts	1-2	0.333	0.556
9	New England Patriots	1-2	0.333	0.556
9	Carolina Panthers	1-2	0.333	0.556
13	Arizona Cardinals	1-2	0.333	0.667
13	San Francisco 49ers	1-2	0.333	0.667
13	New York Giants	1-2	0.333	0.667
16	Atlanta Falcons	1-2	0.333	0.889
16	Denver Broncos	1-2	0.333	0.889

Teams with losing records only.

The NFL calculates its standings based on several categories, with win-loss record and strength of schedule as the first two and therefore the most important. As a result of this, New England currently finds itself in the ninth overall spot and in a four-way tie with Baltimore, Indianapolis and Carolina.

All four are 1-2 at the moment and own a SOS score of 0.556. If they were to submit a waiver claim on the same player in the coming days, though, the Patriots would effectively stand at No. 11: they would fall behind Baltimore and Indianapolis given their superior conference record.

The Patriots did make use of their position near the top of the list since the original order was established in February, claiming six total players over the last seven months.

Linebacker Steele Chambers was picked off in June, followed by wide receiver Matt Landers, offensive linemen Zachary Thomas and Demontrey Jacobs, defensive lineman Eric Johnson, and linebacker Curtis Jacobs in August. The latter four are all on the active 53-man roster at the moment, while Landers is on the practice squad.

Moving forward, the NFL will update its waiver claim order after every week. As a consequence, New England might find itself in a totally different spot next Tuesday.