Saints don’t receive any compensatory draft picks in 2020 — what gives?

The New Orleans Saints did not qualify for any compensatory picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, due to their aggressive free agency strategy.

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The NFL announced its allocation of compensatory picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, with 15 of the league’s 32 teams receiving extra selections in this year’s cycle. The New England Patriots led the way with four additional picks, but as usual, the New Orleans Saints were not counted in that number.

What’s the deal with that? Why don’t the Saints ever bag another pick here or there? The exact formula for awarding compensatory picks isn’t something the NFL makes public, but the analysts at Over The Cap have done a great job of approximating it in recent years.

The summarize their findings: the NFL divides compensatory picks among teams that lose more unrestricted free agents than they gained in the previous free agency cycle — above a certain salary threshold. That excludes players whose contracts were terminated as well as restricted and exclusive-rights free agents. And that methodology doesn’t jive with the Saints’ strategy of addressing roster needs in free agency, setting the stage for the team to select the best prospects available.

In other words: the Saints rarely qualify for compensatory draft picks because they are too active in free agency, adding more players than they typically lose. Just look at last year’s crop:

Qualifying free agents lost

  • DE Alex Okafor (to the Kansas City Chiefs)
  • RB Mark Ingram (to the Baltimore Ravens)

Qualifying free agents added

  • TE Jared Cook (from the Oakland Raiders)
  • G/C Nick Easton (from the Minnesota Vikings)
  • NT Malcom Brown (from the New England Patriots)
  • DL Mario Edwards Jr. (from the New York Giants)

That means the Saints added two more qualifiers than they lost last offseason, putting them in the red against the compensatory pick calculations. The strategy obviously paid off, with the Saints winning 13 games in the regular season and entering the postseason as legitimate Super Bowl favorites, so it’s tough to argue with their results.

However, there’s a good chance that this trend reverses in 2021. The Saints have at least eight pending free agents who should become qualifiers once the dust settles on the open market, with backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater likely the team’s best chance at recouping draft capital. Ironically, he projects to bring back a third-round pick. That’s the same selection the Saints traded to acquire him in the first place.

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