The NFL’s compensatory pick formula is often seen as this mysterious thing, but it’s actually quite cut and dry.
One part that is often overlooked is that players released ahead of or during free agency don’t count toward the formula. So when you’re calculating players lost and gained, you leave those players out. In a really active free agency period like 2019, where you have a lot of teams releasing players in cost-cutting moves, it could benefit a team like the Chiefs.
Kansas City is prepared to allow a lot of free agents and restricted free agents test the waters. Many of them will find new homes, which means the Chiefs have a chance to acquire many compensatory picks in 2020. However, an active free agency period can always stifle those goals. If the Chiefs specifically targeted players who’ve been released from their teams, they could potentially avoid losing too many of those compensatory picks.
It’s certainly a strategy worth thinking about. For instance, there are three free agent safeties who’ve been released that are all quite intriguing. I’ve already spoke a bit on Eric Weddle, then you have guys like Tashaun Gipson and Darian Stewart. Stewart was drafted by Steve Spagnuolo’s Rams team, and in this free agent class you might even get him at a discount. Gipson is just a really solid player hitting the market, and he’s only 28 years old. That’s just one position group and you already have three solid options out there and available.
When it’s all said and done you could probably assemble a pretty nice defensive roster by just wading through the guys released by other teams. The Chiefs should certainly consider looking at some of these players if they want to maximize their compensatory picks in the 2020 NFL draft.
