Green Bay Packers projected for four compensatory picks in 2018 – just how Ted Thompson likes it
The Green Bay Packers came away like bandits with today’s announcement of compensatory draft picks – Just the way GM Ted Thomson likes it.
In what could be Thompson’s final draft with the Packers (if he doesn’t re-sign with the team and heads off into retirement), Green Bay is slated to accept the maximum of four compensatory picks next spring.
Green Bay signed two free agents that will affect next year’s compensatory pick formula: tight end Martellus Bennett and guard Jahri Evans.
The players the Packers lost through free agency are as follows:
- Guard T.J. Lang (Detroit Lions);
- Defensive back Micah Hyde (Buffalo Bills);
- Center J.C. Tretter (Cleveland Browns);
- Tight end Jared Cook (Oakland Raiders);
- Running back Eddie Lacy (Seattle Seahawks);
- Defensive End Datone Jones (Minnesota Vikings); and
- Defensive end Julius Peppers (Carolina Panthers)
The signing of Bennett cancels out the loss of defensive back Hyde, while the signing of Evans is canceled out by Peppers‘ contract with Carolina.
Datone Jones has the lowest contract value, which requires that he be struck from the formula as well.
That leads the Packers with the following picks in the next draft:
- One third round pick for the loss of T.J. Lang;
- One fifth round pick for the loss of J.C. Tretter; and
- Two sixth round picks for the loss of Jared Cook and Eddie Lacy.
The Packers have received at least one compensatory pick over the course of the past 12 years, but this will be the first time since 2014 that Green Bay will be awarded a pick as high as the third round.
Green Bay was awarded a third-rounder that year for the loss of Greg Jennings to the Minnesota Vikings. With that pick, Green Bay selected tight end Richard Rodgers.
In 2009, the Packers were not awarded a compensatory pick – the only year of Ted Thompson‘s reign that this has occurred.
Next: Top 30 moments in Green Bay Packers history
According to a story at packtothefuture.com, the following is a historical look at the players the Packers have lost in free agency and the compensatory picks selected in the draft the following year:
GREG JENNINGS (WR) for RICHARD RODGERS (TE)