How the Vikings-Colts coin flip will decide the 2017 NFL draft order

For the first time in three years, a coin flip is necessary to finalize the NFL draft order. At the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine, the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts will flip a coin to decide which team lands the No. 15 pick, although the Vikings already signed the rights of their first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The last time it happened was in 2014, when the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys flipped a coin to determine who would pick No. 16. Two years prior to that, a pair of flips were necessary to decide if the Carolina Panthers or Miami Dolphins would have the No. 8 pick and if the Kansas City Chiefs or Seattle Seahawks would have the No. 12 selection.

In 2008, the Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs finished in a three-way tie for the No. 3 pick. The Falcons came out on top and selected quarterback Matt Ryan, who was named the NFL’s MVP for the 2016 season.

The stakes won’t be quite as high for the coin flip in 2017, but the Vikings, Colts, and Eagles all will be impacted by its result.

The NFL draft places the worst teams at the top of the order and the best at the bottom. So the Cleveland Browns are set to pick first after a 1-15 season and the New England Patriots are owners of the last selection of the first round after winning the Super Bowl.

For teams that finish with identical records, the tiebreaker is the strength of schedule. A team that faced a weaker schedule will pick before a team that faced a tougher slate.

The Vikings and Colts both finished with 8-8 records, and Minnesota’s opponents finished with a 125-129-2 that matched the 126-130 record of Indianapolis opponents. The tied marks were helped by the fact that the AFC South and NFC North faced each other in 2016, and the two divisions had similar standings:

A pair of ties during the 2016 season made identical strengths of schedule unlikely, but the Colts were one of only six teams that didn’t face any of the four teams that finished with a tie and the Vikings finished with exactly two opponent ties, leaving a matching record possible.

The Vikings traded away their first-round pick to the Eagles just before the beginning of the 2016 season to acquire quarterback Sam Bradford. But just because Minnesota doesn’t have a selection in the first round doesn’t mean the coin flip won’t affect the Vikings.

The Colts, Vikings, and Baltimore Ravens — the three teams that finished 8-8 — will rotate selections through the remainder of the draft. So the loser of the coin flip will own the No. 46 pick in the second round instead of No. 48, with the Ravens sandwiched in between.

That means the Vikings may actually want to lose the toss. They are unaffected in the first round and would have a pick two selection higher in the second round with a loss to the Colts.

It’s not a drastic difference, but in 2016 the Houston Texans traded a sixth-round pick to the Falcons to move from No. 52 to No. 50, so even a small change in the order can be used as leverage.

Prior coin flips occurred on the first day of the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine, but PhiladelphiaEagles.com says that the toss against the Vikings won’t happen until Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Yep!

The Colts and Eagles are both going to stream it live on their Facebook pages, although it probably won’t be that exciting.

BaltimoreRavens.com posted video of the coin flip in 2014 between the Ravens and Cowboys, and there’s really not much fanfare. Just a few guys in an empty conference room looking anxious.

The NFL sells tickets to Super Bowl media day and basically tries its best to market absolutely anything NFL fans are willing to spend money on. So the league could probably step up its game a bit with the coin flip. Maybe roll in a couple of spotlights and a smoke machine or something.