The Cleveland Browns have been very active this offseason and still may have some moves left to make. Most of the team’s biggest moves have come from trades including adding Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper and Chase Winovich. GM Andrew Berry continued his trading ways during the NFL draft as well.
One of the reasons trades can be useful is the compensatory pick formula used by the NFL. In its simplest form, the formula rewards teams that lose more quality players to free-agent than they sign from other teams. Quite literally, the NFL seeks to compensate teams with picks, hence they are called compensatory picks.
There are details related to the formula including that released/waived players do not count for the team that released them or the team that signed them. Only true free agents who had their contract run out.
That ends today (Tuesday).
Moving forward, any free agents signed do not count in the compensatory formula. If Jadeveon Clowney, for example, signed with another team, Cleveland would not get credit for that loss.
So far this offseason, the Browns have added the following free agents that count against the formula:
- Jacoby Brissett
- Taven Bryan
- Jakeem Grant
- Ethan Pocic
- Corey Bojorquez
- Josh Dobbs
- Stephen Weatherly
They have lost the following free agents, getting credit in the formula:
- Rashard Higgins
- M.J. Stewart
Given the limited salaries given to all of those players, it is unlikely that Cleveland will factor significantly into the compensatory pick equation this year. Over the Cap does not have the team benefiting from the compensatory formula.
With the compensatory pick deadline passed and the NFL draft complete, it is likely we see a few veteran signings this week.
