Most fans of the NFL get to this part of the offseason and feel some excitement start to bubble as the annual draft starts to draw near. They’ll look at the list of draft picks that their respective team owns and study mocks, trying to figure out who would best fit their roster in the next year.
This is all great, but if you want to reach the next stage in your NFL fandom (or lunacy) then it’s Compensatory Picks that will really get your juices flowing. Don’t know what a compensatory pick is? Here’s an explainer from the NFL.
Under the terms of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, the league also can assign as many as 32 additional “compensatory free agent” picks, which allow clubs that have lost free agents to another team to use the draft to try to fill the void. The awarded picks take place at the end of the third through seventh round.
In other words, if you lose a player to free agency at any point during the offseason or regular season, the NFL will look at that loss in value and decide whether or not you will receive an extra draft pick as compensation.
Luckily for the Washington Redskins, they are projected by OverTheCap to receive one compensatory pick in the fourth round for their loss of Jamison Crowder to the New York Jets in free agency. Crowder had a solid season for the Jets, hauling in 78 catches for 833 yards and six touchdowns.
The compensatory pick would be a nice addition to the Redskins draft stock this year. While they do own the No. 2 overall pick in the draft — where they are expected to take Ohio State DE Chase Young — they are without both a second-round pick and a sixth-round pick due to trades Montez Sweat and Case Keenum.
[vertical-gallery id=27233]