There is no question that teams in baseball and the NBA “tank” games in order to land the highest draft pick possible – the team with the worst record in MLB gets the No. 1 overall pick in the following year’s draft, while the NBA has tried to tamper “tanking” with a reconfigured draft lottery.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
It’s tough to “tank” in the NFL because there are only 16 regular-season games and careers are very short so the players are always giving their all to keep a roster spot/get a new contract. Even the best players in MLB or NBA take a few nights off both physically and mentally.
That said, the 2020 season might be a good time to “tank” for the NFL’s worst teams because there’s a huge prize waiting at the top of the 2021 draft: Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He would have gone No. 1 overall in this year’s draft if eligible and is considered the top quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck.