#compensation calculation

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"articleSection": "Car Accident Law",

"keywords": "\"Understanding Comparative Fault in Car Accident Cases: How It Affects Your Compensation Claim\"",

"datePublished": "2026-02-01T13:00:53.438565",

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"@type": "Article",

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"articleSection": "Car Accident Law",

"keywords": "\"Understanding Comparative Fault in Car Accident Cases: How It Affects Your Compensation\"",

"datePublished": "2026-01-28T08:31:31.320661",

"dateModified": "2026-01-28T08:31:31.320661"

One of the questions I get asked most often is: What is the Formula for calculating Compensatory Picks? When I wrote my first Salary Cap FAQ and Free Agency FAQ pieces on AskTheCommish.Com many years ago, I alluded to the awarding of these extra draft picks -- but never went into great detail about the complex formula that the NFL uses when designating which teams qualify for these extra picks. Quite honestly, there was a reason why I didn't provide more detail: namely, the NFL has never come clean on exactly what  the formula is. So, I will do my best to break down the details that I do know about the calculations, based on what I have been able to glean from a couple of contacts in the league office.

First, remember that the concept of a Compensatory Draft Pick is to help teams that have been struck hard in free agency by providing them with additional draft picks to help "compensate" for not losses in free agency. The key word here is "net". I have heard from many fans whose favorite team lost a premiere free agent  -- and yet did not receive a significant Compensatory Pick in the following draft. That was likely because the same team had meaningful free acquisitions, which served to lessen the blow of the loss.

1. Each player signed, cancels each player lost.

2. Players earning league minimum salaries do not qualify.

3. Players released before the midway point of the season do not qualify.

4. Lost players, who were acquired the year before do not qualify.

5. Players who do not receive the minimal qualifying offer to be a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) or Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) do not qualify.

Those five qualifiers are pretty straightforward. The confusing part is identifying the rounds for which compensation is assessed. In general, the round of the compensatory pick is directly proportional to the size of the contract (in terms of annual value) that the player signed. The canceling out principal that I alluded to above applies to players with similar-sized contracts.

Finally, there is another aspect of the formula related to playing time. The playing time calculation is kept under tight wraps by the league, but I will say that it does involve total snaps.

Note also that when the calculations are performed and the net totals are assigned to each team, there is a cut-off after 32 picks. That is to say that the league awards a maximum total of 32 comp picks each year.

I have reached out to my sources in the league office to see if they could provide me with a "best guess" of what those compensatory picks may look like for 2014.