Packers unlikely to receive any compensatory picks this year
The Green Bay Packers are unlikely to receive any compensatory picks this offseason.
A benefit of the draft-and-develop philosophy under general manager Ted Thompson was that the Green Bay Packers would receive compensatory draft picks most years.
Well, one year into the Brian Gutekunst era and that has changed. According to Over The Cap‘s compensatory draft picks cancellation chart, the Packers will not receive an extra selection this year.
If the Packers don’t receive any compensatory picks as expected, it’ll be the first time since 2009.
These bonus picks are awarded to teams based on the previous year’s free agency. If a team loses a few key players to big contracts and doesn’t sign any free agents, they’ll likely receive a few compensatory picks. Thompson rarely made any big free agency moves, which meant the Packers regularly received bonus draft selections the following year.
It was a different story last offseason, Gutekunst’s first as general manager. According to Over The Cap’s projections, the only player Green Bay lost in free agency that counts for a compensatory pick is Morgan Burnett, who signed a three-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But with the Packers signing Tramon Williams to a similar deal and Jimmy Graham to an even bigger one, the loss of Burnett is cancelled out. For that reason, Green Bay almost certainly won’t receive any extra picks this year.
While Thompson didn’t use free agency all that often, he did have success with the compensatory selections. Mike Daniels, Josh Sitton, Blake Martinez and Aaron Jones were all selected with compensatory picks.
While these additional draft picks are great, using free agency is also important. To win another championship, Brian Gutekunst needs to be active in free agency even if it means Green Bay won’t receive a compensatory pick for the next few years.
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The Packers are unlikely to get any additional picks this spring, but they do already have 10 selections to work with, including two in the first round.