Many factors were at play, but the over the past two offseasons, the Cincinnati Bengals allowed their All-Pro left tackle Andrew Whitworth, their quality left guard Kevin Zeitler, and reliable receivers Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu to bolt in free agency.

The Bengals have never been big free-agent players, yet if that's going to be your philosophy, the effective home-grown guys need to be top priorities to be retained. With those four no longer in Cincinnati, the Bengals have gotten out to an 0-3 start and have Football Outsiders' second-worst offensive DVOA through three games. Right now, it seems like they're on the verge of "blowing it all up," and the perfect start to a franchise rebuild would be owning the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. If they can't beat the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday, they'll likely be "winning" the race for the No. 1 pick a quarter of the way through the season.

First things first... here's a peek at the current 2018 NFL Draft order. SportsLine's updated projected win totals were used as tiebreakers through three games. This order will change a lot.

Draft Order

These Week 4 games have the most bearing on the race for the No. 1 pick.

Bengals at Browns

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Bengals played the Packers tightly at Lambeau Field after not scoring a touchdown for the first two games of the season. Tony Romo made an astute point during the broadcast -- how money has Romo been as a commentator, by the way? -- when he mentioned that Cincinnati was done with its opening, 20-play script which meant the Packers should have a better idea of what would be coming. After that, the Bengals scored three more points the entire game (h/t @JoeGoodberry). Essentially, the Bengals offense stills needs to work out some enormous kinks. Meanwhile, the Browns surged late in Indy against the Colts, but their valiant effort fell short. This shouldn't be an absolute stinker, because it features a relatively fun Cleveland offense and an impressive Bengals pass rush, but the loser should take over the No. 1 spot in the top-pick race.

Bears at Packers

Mike Glennon vs. Aaron Rodgers. Primetime. Get pumped. OK, so that quarterback duel isn't awesome on paper. But remember: Jared Goff and Brian Hoyer provided the country with the most entertaining Thursday Night Football game ever(?) last week, so let's not overlook this one. Tarik Cohen has been sensational through three games -- I swear he disappears sometimes. The Packers should be healthier in their receiving corps but may be without starting tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga. Chicago just might keep it competitive. Green Bay hasn't lost at home in September since 2012. The Bears front office should be pleased with what its team has shown through three games, even if this is kinda/sorta the start of a rebuild.

49ers at Cardinals

The Cardinals were a holding call away from leading the Cowboys 14-0 lead on "Monday Night Football"

after a dominating first quarter. Instead, Phil Dawson missed a field goal, and Dallas cruised after that. Why did Arizona decide to flip sound left tackle Jared Veldheer to right tackle again? He was a turnstile against DeMarcus Lawrence and protection issues will devastate Bruce Arians' vertical passing offense. San Francisco looked competent on offense against the Rams in Week 3, yet their defense was shredded to the tune of 10.4 yards per attempt for Goff and 7.0 yards per play for the entire Rams offense. It will be hard to convince me the 49ers don't pick a quarterback in Round 1 next year.

Giants at Buccaneers

The Giants actually scored 20-plus points in Week 3, the first time they'd done so in 12 games. But it didn't come without drama. Odell Beckham Jr. had a touchdown "celebration" that garnered a negative reaction from owner John Mara. Not good. After a convincing Week 2 win to begin their season, the Buccaneers were flat against the Vikings led by... Case Keenum. Yeah, really. The journeyman had his finest game as a professional against Tampa Bay's porous secondary that probably will be tested by OBJ, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram. Oh, yeah... what about Brandon Marhshall? The Giants have plenty of holes, mostly on offense.

Eagles at Chargers

As per usual, the Chargers hung around, and hung around, but instead of another opportunity to tie the game late for Philip Rivers, Kareem Hunt hit his third home run of the season to put the Chiefs' lead out of reach. The Eagles got an emotional roller-coaster of a win over the Giants a week ago, yet Carson Wentz finished with 5.7 yards per attempt. As a team, Philadelphia averaged 4.9 yards per carry. Maybe they should lean on the run game more? The two edge battles in this contest are superb -- Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa against Jason Peters and Lane Johnson.

Jaguars at Jets

So how do Jets fans feel about their team's manhandling of the Dolphins last week? Happy to see Josh McCown looking like Chad Pennington in his prime or bummed about the hit to the draft positioning? It's not like Gang Green was going to go 0-16 with its defense, so I'd bet most of the faithful fans were pleased that the Jets smacked around the Dolphins last week. Speaking of impressive defenses -- the Jaguars took advantage of a weakened Ravens attack in London, and shellacked Baltimore 44-7. Everyone's favorite quarterback to tease, Blake Bortles, was actually good too. Believe it or not, Jacksonville is currently 11th in Football Outsiders' offensive DVOA and 5th in defensive DVOA.

Titans at Texans

Against the Patriots on Sunday, Deshaun Watson looked the part of the franchise quarterback that Bill O'Brien has been looking for his entire time as Houston's head coach. Unfortunately, the Texans gave the ball back to Tom Brady with a chance to orchestrate a game-winning drive. Bad idea. He worked his magic for seemingly the 100th time in his illustrious career and threw a touchdown late for the victory. This is another barometer game for the Texans. Are they the team that was offensively inept against the Bengals or are they closer to playoff contention than they appeared to be after the opening two weeks of the season? The Titans seem to be a well-rounded team that can win in many ways.