The NFL awarded teams which had more players depart via 2017 free agency than they signed on Friday, announcing compensatory picks for the 2018 NFL Draft.
In total, 15 teams received extra selections from the league. The way it works is that the more valuable the free agent, the higher the round a given team who lost said free agent gains an extra pick.
#AZCardinals get the top compensatory pick, #Bengals, #Cowboys, #Packers, and #Raiders each get 4 of them. https://t.co/KmlUztVj2f
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 23, 2018
NFL Announces Compensatory Picks for 2018 NFL Draft
The most prominent player in this regard during last year’s free agency period was Calais Campbell. The towering defensive end signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars after spending the first nine seasons of his pro career with the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona also lost safety Tony Jefferson who left for the Baltimore Ravens. As a result of those and a few other departures, the Cardinals received the first compensatory pick of the draft which takes place in the third round.
The Houston Texans were another beneficiary of this process. That doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering their immensely talented cornerback A.J. Bouye also signed with the Jags last season. They also received a third-round comp pick, in addition to the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals. Among the players those two teams lost in free agency were offensive linemen Russell Okung and Kevin Zeitler.
All in all, the league doled out a total of 32 compensatory selections. The Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders received the most with four. Houston and Arizona have the second highest number with three. The sixth round of the draft will see the most activity with 12 comp picks occurring then.
The full list of these picks can be seen below.
Third round
97-Arizona
98-Houston
99-Denver
100-Cincinnati
Fourth round
133-Green Bay
134-Arizona
135-New York Giants
136-New England
137-Dallas
Fifth round
170-Cincinnati
171-Dallas
172-Green Bay
173-Dallas
174-Green Bay
Sixth round
207-Green Bay
208-Dallas
209-Kansas City
210-Oakland
211-Houston
212-Oakland
213-Minnesota
214-Houston
215-Baltimore
216-Oakland
217-Oakland
218-Minnesota
Seventh round
251-LA Chargers
252-Cincinnati
253-Cincinnati
254-Arizona
255-Tampa Bay
256-Atlanta
