NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears were not one of the 15 NFL teams to receive compensatory picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. This is nothing new for the Bears, as Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic notes the team hasn’t been given a compensatory pick for nine consecutive years.
Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune points out the Bears have been given just 17 compensatory picks since 1994, which is the sixth fewest in the league. If the Bears are going to be as active as we think in free agency, next year won’t bring any compensatory picks either. But if the team is going to get picks moving forward, the Bears will need to be better at drafting and rely less on free agency. Think about the Baltimore Ravens, who Chris Wesseling of NFL.com notes have received the most compensatory picks since 1994.
Compensatory picks are given out based on a formula where teams losing more/better free agents than it acquires in the previous year are eligible to get draft picks. So while the Bears lost a pretty good free agent in Alshon Jeffery last year, the team signed a handful of free agents to fill out the roster. At least the Bears can easily get out from those contracts and create a bunch of cap space.
The big winners in 2018 are the Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, and Cincinnati Bengals, who were each given four picks. The Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans each received three picks, the Minnesota Vikings received two picks, and eight other teams received one pick.
Here is the full list via Michael Signora:
32 compensatory choices in the 2018 @NFL Draft have been awarded to 15 teams pic.twitter.com/7so8TJfChd
— Michael Signora (@NFLfootballinfo) February 23, 2018
