Shooting For The Top Pick:
When your team has the #1 pick, you are coming off of an awful season. Your team is the worst of 32 teams in the league, and you probably have more leaks in the boat than you can plug in one year. No matter what anyone says, there are few teams that deliberately tried to win the honor of the #1 pick, and I’m sure that even those situations are debatable.
The Indianapolis Colts striking gold on a “Suck For Luck” campaign, after letting hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning walk the previous year, is an example of where “tanking” may make sense.