Could Chargers sabotage Raiders’ draft hopes in season finale?

Chris Roling | 8 Hours Ago

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Chargers fans might be getting close to something really funny when it comes to inflicting pain on a hated rival.

While this is looking a little farther down the road than current happenings, the Chargers happen to visit the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18 for the season finale.

Provided the Chargers win in Week 17 to clinch a playoff berth, they could always opt to rest starters against the Raiders.

And those Raiders have already lost major ground in the NFL draft order’s race for the No. 1 pick.

See the vision?

On paper, if the Chargers happened to lose to the Raiders in that season finale, it would catapult Las Vegas and former Chargers general manager Tom Telesco down the NFL draft order board.

As of this writing, the Raiders are one of five teams with three wins on the season. Three more have four wins. Were the Raiders to beat the Chargers for a fourth win, they would fall to anywhere between the seventh and ninth pick in the draft. If the Raiders happen to pick up five wins, they could potentially slip to 10th.

This is important AFC West stuff to watch because the difference between the Raiders picking roughly sixth or a handful of spots lower could be the difference in finding a potential franchise rookie passer or coughing up huge cash on a stopgap like Kirk Cousins.

For Chargers fans, it’s just a little fun thing to keep in mind as the season winds down.

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