With the league offices closing for today, it also closes out the addition of compensatory free agents (CFAs) into the formula for the 2017 NFL Draft. Note that while last year this cutoff date was May 12, it is my belief that from now on the cutoff date will be the second Tuesday after the NFL Draft, as there are several mentions of May 10 in the official free agency press release. With the full slate of potential qualifying CFAs now known, it’s time to take a look at the list that’s emerged.
Team | Rd | Compensated Free Agent | Real APY |
DEN | 3 | Brock Osweiler | $18,000,000 |
MIA | 3 | Olivier Vernon | $16,750,000 |
CAR | 3 | Josh Norman | $15,000,000 |
DEN | 3 | Malik Jackson | $14,250,000 |
LA | 3 | Janoris Jenkins | $12,400,000 |
BAL | 3 | Kelechi Osemele | $11,200,000 |
KC | 3 | Sean Smith | $9,250,000 |
SEA | 4 | Bruce Irvin | $9,000,000 |
CLE | 4 | Alex Mack | $9,000,000 |
CIN | 4 | Marvin Jones | $8,000,000 |
IND | 4 | Coby Fleener | $7,120,000 |
CLE | 4 | Tashaun Gipson | $7,106,250 |
LA | 4 | Rodney McLeod | $7,000,000 |
KC | 4 | Jeff Allen | $6,875,000 |
SF | 4 | Alex Boone | $6,600,000 |
CLE | 4 | Mitchell Schwartz | $6,512,000 |
CIN | 4 | Mohamed Sanu | $6,500,000 |
MIA | 4 | Lamar Miller | $6,500,000 |
SEA | 4 | J.R. Sweezy | $6,500,000 |
DEN | 5 | Danny Trevathan | $6,025,000 |
CLE | 5 | Travis Benjamin | $6,000,000 |
ARI | 5 | Bobby Massie | $5,868,750 |
PIT | 5 | Kelvin Beachum | $5,375,000 |
GB | 5 | Casey Hayward | $5,100,000 |
KC | 6 | Donald Stephenson | $4,666,667 |
KC | 6 | Tyvon Branch | $4,000,000 |
CIN | 6 | Reggie Nelson | $4,000,000 |
BUF | 6 | Nigel Bradham | $3,500,000 |
CIN | 6 | Andre Smith | $3,218,750 |
DEN | 7 | Ryan Harris | $1,950,000 |
GB | 7 | Scott Tolzien | $1,750,000 |
PIT | 7 | Antwon Blake | $1,500,000 |
Compensation below 32-pick limit; not awarded | |||
The most notable observance from this year’s list is that currently, we are set to have a record number of 3rd and 4th round compensatory picks awarded, at seven and twelve. (There were six 3rd round comp picks awarded in 1997 and 2005, and nine 4th round comp picks awarded just last year.) Those numbers may not hold after snap count adjustments, but evidence continues to grow that more and more teams are being mindful of the compensatory formula. Many of the usual suspects like Baltimore, Green Bay, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are prominent on this year’s list, and there are also a couple other newcomers like Los Angeles (Mike Florio reported that they were the first team to agree to a trade including a potential compensatory pick) and Miami (who rescinded Olivier Vernon’s transition tag to ensure he would net the Dolphins a compensatory pick). With respect to the Dolphins, this led Drew Rosenhaus to talk with some local Miami media talent about his legitimate frustration from an agent’s standpoint with how the compensatory formula is making it difficult to get some of his UFA clients signed. It will be curious to see if more agents complain about this if the trend continues to grow.
As with every year, there will be some picks in which there will be a question as to whether or not they will be awarded. Here are the two that I’m keeping an eye on:
For the next few months, the most important thing to watch for with regards to 2017 compensatory picks is if any CFAs fail to make their team’s roster. If any CFA is permanently cut from their team’s roster before Week 10, they will not qualify for the compensatory formula. Using a little intuition, there are some teams that could feasibly improve their standing in 2017 compensatory picks if they cut certain players, and other teams that need to hope that certain teams don’t cut some of their former players. Last year, the most extreme example of that was Shareece Wright getting cut, which flipped a 6th rounder from San Diego to San Francisco.
Finally, after looking at the comp pick results from last year, I now believe that per game roster bonuses considered as not likely to be earned (NLTBE) do not count in the compensatory formula, as they must be considered a type of incentive, and incentives have never counted in the formula. In most cases, however, this does not cause significant changes to projections. It mainly helps to explain why certain picks were in an order that I wasn’t expecting.
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