nerangers
Footballguy
caught this on boston.com
With the Eagles (9-6-1 regular-season record) and Cardinals (9-7 regular-season record) meeting in the NFC Championship game -- which ensures that one of them will be in the Super Bowl -- the Patriots' draft position has improved by one spot to 23rd overall.Draft order is determined by regular-season record, and the 11-5 Patriots were initially projected to draft 24th. The Eagles were initially projected to pick 22nd and the Cardinals 21st.There is one exception, however, as the Super Bowl loser (regardless of regular-season record) picks 31st and the Super Bowl winner (regardless of regular-season record) picks 32nd.Thus, the Patriots bump up the spot.