Jaguars bye week: Who should fans root for?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a bye week this week, which means sitting back, kicking your feet up, and spending your Sunday watching seven straight hours of NFL Red Zone. I’ll be checking on the statuses for each of my four fantasy leagues (it me, fantasy sicko) and a couple of games around the league that’ll set Trevor Lawrence & Co. up well for next season.

Because, let’s face it… this team ain’t reaching the playoffs this year.

Here are your rooting interests for the Jaguars to have as high a draft pick as possible by season’s end while not outright cheering for a loss. At least not yet.

Current betting odds are listed on each game from DraftKings to help give you a better sense of who Vegas thinks is going to win. They are listed in order by importance.

But first, a reminder on the state of the AFC — draft order, per Tankathon.

AFC South

1. Tennessee Titans (4-2)
2. Indianapolis Colts (2-4)
3. Houston Texans (1-5)
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5)

AFC Playoffs

1. Baltimore Ravens (5-1)
2. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2, 2-0 AFC)
3. Los Angeles Chargers (4-2, win over Raiders, 3-1 AFC, SOV 12 wins)
4. Las Vegas Raiders (4-2, 4-1 AFC, loss to Chargers)
5. Tennessee Titans (4-2, 3-1 AFC, SOV 9 wins, win over Bills)
6. Buffalo Bills (4-2, 3-2 AFC, loss to Titans)
7. Cleveland Browns (4-3, 0-0 AFCN, 2-2 AFC)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-3, 0-1 AFCN, 2-2 AFC)
9. Kansas City Chiefs (3-3, 0-1 AFCW, 1-3 AFC)
10. Denver Broncos (3-4, 0-1 AFCW, 2-4 AFC)
11. Indianapolis Colts (2-4, 2-2 AFC)
12. New England Patriots (2-4, 2-1 AFC)
13. New York Jets (1-4)
14. Houston Texans (1-5, win over Jaguars, 1-4 AFC)
15. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5, win over Dolphins, 1-4 AFC)
16. Miami Dolphins

Now, who should you be rooting for this weekend so that the Jaguars can win the maximum number of games but have the highest possible draft pick for the 2022 NFL Draft?

Here are the three games we’ll have our eyes on…

Miami Dolphins (1-5) over Atlanta Falcons (2-5)
Sunday, 1:00pm EST
Line: Falcons by 2 points

Hey, a plausible victory for the team we’re rooting for! Miami is at home and even though they’re an underdog, it’s a very close line. Miami wins this game and that’s one less team in front of the Jaguars and that coveted top draft pick.

New York Jets (1-5) over New England Patriots (2-5)
Sunday, 1:00pm EST
Line: Patriots by 6.5 points

Eh, this one features the current No. 6 overall pick against the No. 7 overall pick, so whichever team wins we’ll be thankful.

Houston Texans (1-5) over Arizona Cardinals (6-0)
Sunday, 4:25pm EST
Line: Arizona by 18 points

Yeah, uh, I’m not putting much stock in the Texans traveling to win against an undefeated Cardinals team. Remember when the Jaguars went to Mile High Stadium and beat the Broncos in the AFC Divisional Game? And it was looked at as one of the greatest upsets of all time? The Jaguars entered that game as just a 12.5-point underdog.

But… stranger things have happened, right?