No, the Browns game Sunday is not entirely meaningless. In fact, it could matter a lot in the grand scheme of the franchise's future.

Why? Draft position, of course. Here's a look at the current top 10, with opponents' winning percentage in the final column:

1. Detroit Lions – 0-15 – .573
2. St. Louis Rams – 2-13 – .527
3. Kansas City Chiefs – 2-13 – .556
4. Cincinnati Bengals – 3-11 – 1 – .589
5. Seattle Seahawks – 4-11 – .496
6. Oakland Raiders – 4-11 – .516
7. Cleveland Browns – 4-11 – .562
8. Jacksonville Jaguars – 5-10 – .527
9. Green Bay Packers – 5-10 – .547
10. San Francisco 49ers – 6-9 – .451

So, after Sunday's game, the Browns could be picking anywhere between picks four and nine. Here are the opponents for teams four through nine this week:

Cincinnati – vs. Kansas City
Seattle – @ Arizona
Oakland – @ Tampa Bay
Jacksonville – @ Baltimore
Green Bay – vs. Detroit

My guess is that Cincinnati and Green Bay win, which would only move the Browns up one spot. Of course, the best scenario is if all those teams win and the Browns lose, which is conceivable considering the Buccaneers, Cardinals and Ravens might rest some of their players. And the Browns are just that terrible.

Then, with Kansas City, St. Louis and Detroit locked into the top three draft spots, assuming there is no trade and junior offensive tackle Andre Smith and quarterbacks Matt Stafford and Sam Bradford enter the draft, the Browns could have their pick of defensive players like cornerbacks Malcolm Jenkins and Vontae Davis or linebackers Rey Maualuga and Aaron Curry. And certainly any of those four could help this team.

But what does this all mean? The Browns are really, really terrible this year.

Don't forget, the chat will mercifully be back on Sunday to talk Browns football. Game time is at 1 p.m., so the chat will start at 12:45.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Cleveland Browns, NFL Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.