Compensatory Picks

The NFL awarded 32 compensatory choices in the 2014 NFL Draft to 13 teams yesterday. Up to 32 picks are awarded every year to teams losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year. The number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four. The picks are positioned at the end of rounds 3-7. The awarding of the picks is determined by a "secret" formula based on salary, playing time, and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL Management Council. Some have figured out this formula. Others find it flawed.

Here are the Compensatory Picks for the 2014 NFL Draft:

3rd round picks:
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Baltimore
San Francisco

4th round picks:
Detroit
Baltimore
Houston
Detroit
New York Jets
Baltimore
Atlanta
New England

5th round picks:
Pittsburgh
New York Giants
Baltimore
Green Bay

6th round picks:
New York Jets
New York Jets
Houston
Cincinnati
New York Jets
St. Louis
Pittsburgh

7th round picks:
Dallas
St. Louis
St. Louis
Dallas
Cincinnati
Atlanta
Dallas
Atlanta
Houston

There are some things that bother me about the awarding of these compensatory choices. The Baltimore Ravens were rewarded with four picks for basically dismantling their Super Bowl Championship team. Especially their defense. They lost linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Paul Kruger, corner Cary Williams, and safety Ed Reed simply because they were shuttling a lot of their funds to their quarterback. It wasn't like the Ravens were inactive in free agency. They added Chris Canty and Elvis Dumervil but neither qualified as compensatory free agents. If they could afford Canty and Dumervil, you'd think that they might make an attempt to retain some of the players from that championship team. Instead, they are rewarded for letting them go. For a while I didn't really like that salary was factored into the compensatory formula. It's pretty common to see some of these free agents get way overpaid in free agency. I've always felt that a player's value was wrongly inflated by these crazy contracts. Some owners (little Danny Snyder) seemed to overpay simply because they could without ever once considering whether they should. I didn't like that the former team was rewarded because there was an owner out there that was out of his mind. I've since come around to the thinking that maybe the former team should be rewarded for not paying the astronomical, comical amounts. Because of the ridiculous dollars flying around in free agency I hate to see salary play a significant role in the compensatory process. Unfortunately, it's these ridiculous dollars that results in a team losing a player to free agency. The former team knows the player best and best knows his worth. I just think that on-the-field performance should play the greatest role in the compensation formula. Maybe I'm just pissy because the Minnesota Vikings rarely get any of these picks. They've been awarded 17 over the last twenty years. The Vikings have historically been, at best, casual participants in free agency. They've also done a pretty good job of keeping their own free agents. At least, they've done a pretty good job of keeping their own free agents that might interest other teams. The Ravens, on the other hand, have received 41 compensatory picks over the last twenty years. Ozzie Newsome likes those extra picks.