Packers Projected to Receive Three Compensatory Draft Picks

What pick will the Packers receive for losing Allen Lazard to the Jets? Here’s why they’ll be crossing their fingers.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are in line to gain three free-agent compensatory picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, according to Nick Korte of OverTheCap.com.

Korte, who is an authority on the topic, predicts the Packers will gain a fifth-round pick for losing Allen Lazard to the Jets, a sixth-round pick for losing Jarran Reed to the Seahawks and a seventh-round pick for losing Dean Lowry to the Vikings.

Compensatory picks are handed out via a formula that not even team executives fully understand. As explained by the NFL: “Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Clubs that suffer a net loss of [compensatory free agents] during the prior free agent signing period are eligible to receive a corresponding number of compensatory selections.”

Average annual salary is the primary determiner of where the picks land.

Following the first waves of free agency last offseason, Korte projected the Packers would receive a pick in the fifth round for Lazard, whose four-year, $44 million contract from New York made him the most expensive receiver in free agency.

That contract puts him right on the dividing line between a fourth-round pick and a fifth-round pick, according to Korte.

“Lower snap counts than estimated is the reason why” the pick landed in the fifth round, Korte said. “However, both Lazard and David Onyemata [from the Saints to the Falcons] are right on the bubble, and it would not surprise me at all to see them net fourths. I’d guess it’s pretty close to a coin flip.”

During his spring projection, Korte thought that pick could move into the fourth round with significant playing time. However, he was a healthy inactive three times down the stretch as his production crashed from 60 receptions for 788 yards and six touchdowns in 2022 to 23 catches for 311 yards and one touchdown in 2023.

Based on recent history, the NFL will make the official announcement some just before the start of free agency on March 13.

The Packers have an opportunity to further improve an ascending roster in this year’s draft. With the second-round pick gained the Aaron Rodgers trade and the third-round pick acquired in the Rasul Douglas deal, the Packers are projected to have five of the top 91 selections.

The compensatory picks will bump their total haul to 11 selections.

The Packers’ only compensatory pick in 2023 was seventh-round receiver Grant DuBose. Zach Tom was among three comp picks in 2022. Star running back Aaron Jones was a fifth-round comp pick in 2017.

Click here for the full story and Korte’s reasoning, including why tight end Robert Tonyan was excluded.

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