And into December we go. By the time the next NFL game is played, we'll have moved into the final full month of the 2016 season. The playoff chase has heated up -- and so has the race for a prominent position in the 2017 draft.

One team continues to sop up the drama for the No. 1 overall spot, but as recent drafts have shown, a pick anywhere in the top 10 can provide an elite player. You can look no further than the NFL's leading rusher, Dallas Cowboys tailback Ezekiel Elliott, who was selected No. 4 overall last spring.

What follows is a projection of how the top of the draft might look when the season ends in five weeks. It uses ESPN's Football Power Index metric (FPI), which takes into account current records, strength of future opponents and the NFL's draft-order tiebreaker (reverse strength of schedule), among other data points. To be clear, it is not intended to represent the draft order if the season ended today.

On with it ...

1. Cleveland Browns

Record: 0-12

FPI odds of top pick: 90.8 percent

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 100 percent

Comment: Seven teams have started 0-12 since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. Of the previous six, only one of them won game No. 13. Can the Browns do anything to stop the bleeding? Perhaps. FiveThirtyEight.com gives them no better than a 27 percent chance to win any of their remaining games, and they remain the heavy favorites for the No. 1 overall pick.

2. San Francisco 49ers

Record: 1-10

FPI odds of top pick: 7.1 percent

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 97.8 percent

Comment: Mostly unnoticed amid a 10-game losing streak has been measurable improvement from quarterback Colin Kaepernick. After completing 46 percent of his passes and compiling a QBR of 58.4 in his first two starts, Kaepernick has completed 59.3 percent and produced a 65.4 QBR in his past four. He has eight touchdown passes and two interceptions over that span as well. Could Kaepernick work his way into the 49ers' 2017 plans, allowing them to pass on a shaky quarterback class? Stranger things have happened.

3. Chicago Bears

Record: 2-9

FPI odds of top pick: 1.2 percent

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 89.7 percent

Comment: The Bears have picked in the top five only three times in the past 36 years. And they haven't had the No. 3 overall pick (or higher) since 1972, when they selected tackle Lionel Antoine out of Southern Illinois. But at the moment, at least, the odds are decent of rare air.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars

Record: 2-9

FPI odds of top pick: 0.9 percent

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 85.5 percent

Comment: The Jaguars' average top pick over the past five years has been 3.6. So would you believe that at 2-9, the Jaguars are on track to pick lower than their five-year average? Me neither. And they have plenty of time to find their way north.

5. New York Jets

Record: 3-8

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 55.1 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 97.0 percent

Comment: They showed signs of life in a close loss Sunday to the New England Patriots, prompting another week of pretending that their season isn't over. Ryan Fitzpatrick, who ranks No. 31 of 32 in NFL QBR, will start Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts. The Jets will be an interesting top-5 candidate: A team with no clear answer at quarterback on their roster, but enough depth -- Fitzpatrick, Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg -- to make them unlikely to draft another one in the first round.

6. Tennessee Titans (from Los Angeles Rams)

Rams record: 4-7

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 44.0 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 96.0 percent

Comment: Remember, the Rams' first-round pick is going to the Titans as part of the Jared Goff trade. How fortunate would it be for Tennessee to snag such a high pick while having its quarterback, running backs and key pieces of its offensive line already in place?

7. Cincinnati Bengals

Record: 3-7-1

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 11.6 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 69.7 percent

Comment: The Bengals played the Ravens tough in Week 12, but the loss of receiver A.J. Green deletes much of their offensive punch. Regardless, their next two games are very winnable and could impact their positioning: at home against the Philadelphia Eagles (5-6) and then at the Browns.

8. Carolina Panthers

Record: 4-7

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 5.7 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 59.9 percent

Comment: The Panthers have lost two of their past three games and will play at the Seattle Seahawks (7-3-1) in Week 13. Their schedule doesn't really let up, with matchups remaining against the Washington Redskins (6-4-1), Atlanta Falcons (7-4) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-5), among others.

9. Arizona Cardinals

Record: 4-6-1

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 3.3 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 41.7 percent

Comment: The Cardinals continue to be one of the biggest surprises on this list, and thus one of the most notable disappointments of the season. It won't get any easier for them over the next two weeks, with matchups at home against the Redskins and then on the road at the streaking Miami Dolphins (7-4).

10. Indianapolis Colts

Record: 5-6

FPI odds of top-5 pick: 4.5 percent

FPI odds of top-10 pick: 52.1 percent

Comment: Quarterback Andrew Luck (concussion) has returned to practice, raising hope that he will be ready for Monday's game against the Jets. Amazing: The Colts have a better than even chance to draft in the top 10, according to FPI, but they are also within a game of the Houston Texans in the AFC South. FPI gives them an 18.9 percent chance to win the division.