The 2019 NBA Draft Lottery should have stolen TNT's slogan on the spot. That night knew drama.
Knicks felt heartbreak. The Pelicans won the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. And everyone started tweeting their own conspiracy theories the closer the Lakers moved to the top pick.
Now, the NFL draft wants in on the fun.
Hey, NFL, we want a draft lottery, too.— NFL Draft (@NFLDraft) May 15, 2019
This was the first year with new rules for the NBA draft lottery. To help prevent tanking, the teams with the three worst regular-season records had a 14 percent chance at the No. 1 pick. In the NFL, simply the team with the worst record receives the top pick in the draft.
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If the NFL had a draft lottery, the order in which teams picked would have been much different if it followed the same pattern as this year's NBA lottery.
How the 2019 draft order would have shaken out if the NFL had a draft lottery with the same result as last night's NBA lottery:
1. Jags
2. Bills
3. Cards
4. Bengals
5. 49ers
6. Jets
7. Raiders
8. Bucs
9. Giants
10. Lions
11. Broncos
12. Dolphins
13. Packers
14. Falcons https://t.co/qMw2ySvm3D— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) May 15, 2019
In this case, the 49ers would have moved down three spots from No. 2 to No. 5, and the Raiders from No. 4 to No. 7. San Francisco would have said goodbye to defensive end Nick Bosa, though Raiders defensive end Clelin Ferrell likely would have still been available.
For the sake of this exercise, let's assign the 49ers and Raiders the players that were selected in their respective slots in this year's draft. The 49ers would then receive linebacker Devin White, while edge rusher Josh Allen would go to the Raiders.
White wouldn't exactly fit the 49ers after their signing of free-agent linebacker Kwon Alexander. But perhaps with his 4.42 speed in the 40-yard dash, White could have formed a positionless trio of himself, Alexander and Fred Warner at linebacker.
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Allen, however, makes a ton of sense for the Raiders. Plenty of pundits expected the Silver and Black to select the former Kentucky star, who figured to be a big help to Oakland's pass-rushing issues. Instead, they opted for Ferrell.
Sports are the greatest drama that never sleeps. I, for one, am here for an NFL Draft Lottery.
