The Houston Texans didn’t get anything in their stockings.
According to the NFL on Tuesday, the release of the compensatory picks for the 2021 NFL draft revealed that the Texans will not receive any additional picks in April’s draft.
Lance Zuerlein from NFL.com explained how compensatory picks worked in April of 2020.
Teams are awarded compensatory draft picks between Rounds 3 and 7 based upon a league formula that takes into account the following criteria for players who left the team to sign elsewhere as free agents: average salary per year (APY), snap count and postseason awards. While there is an expected level of compensation for a player based on the amount he has signed for, his playing time (or lack thereof) in the upcoming season could alter the expectation. To qualify for compensatory picks, teams must end up with more qualifying free agents lost than gained in a particular year.
The number of compensatory picks allotted each year is limited to the number of teams in the league (32), per the collective bargaining agreement. However, compensatory picks are not divided up equally among the teams, and no team can receive more than four compensatory picks in a single year.
There were alterations to the methodology of determining compensatory value/picks with this year’s collective bargaining agreement. It’s likely that we will see most, if not all, of the compensatory picks land between Rounds 3 and 6 because of these changes.
Although the Texans could have received a compensatory pick with the Cincinnati Bengals signing defensive tackle in free agency, the Texans signed too many free agents in the first wave of free agency in receiver Randall Cobb, safety Eric Murray, safety Jaylen Watkins, and guard Brent Qvale to be considered part of the compensatory formula.
If the Texans want more draft picks in the upcoming draft, they will need to consider trading other assets.