Zero Compensation: Will Patriots Get Extra Picks in 2024 NFL Draft?

After a "break even" free agency, the New England Patriots are one of 19 teams projected to not get a compensatory draft pick next year.

We've opined that, in NFL free agency this offseason, the New England Patriots essentially traded Jakobi Meyers for JuJu Smith-Schuster. Same position. Similar production. Almost identical contracts.

Early projections for next year's draft tend to agree.

For an organization that has long benefitted from compensatory picks - Tom Brady ring a bell? - the Patriots will likely head into next April's 2024 draft in Detroit without extra ammunition. Reason: The league's determination (via super secret formula) that New England basically "broke even" in 2023 free agency.

The "formula" reads something along the lines of "if a team is determined to have lost more value in free agency than it gained, it will be awarded a compensatory pick."

Compensatory draft picks won't be awarded until next March, but predictions indicate the Pats will be one of 19 teams to not receive an extra pick. The 49ers (who lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo) could get as many as five picks and the Philadelphia Eagles (Miles Sanders, C.J. Gardner-Johnson) potentially could get four.

This offseason the Pats signed free agents Smith-Schuster, Mike Gesicki, James Robinson, Riley Reiff, Chris Board and Trace McSorley, while losing only Meyers (Raiders), Nelson Agholor (Ravens) and Damien Harris (Bills).

As is, the Patriots will enter the 2024 draft with their own pick in rounds 1-7 and extra pick in the sixth round.

They were awarded compensatory picks every year 2014-21 and, famously, in 2000. In 1999 they lost linebacker Todd Collins, punter Tom Tupa, defensive tackle Mark Wheeler and offensive lineman Dave Wohlabaugh in free agency, resulting in four picks including the No. 199 which turned into Brady.

As a result of losing free agents J.C. Jackson and Ted Karras in 2022, the Pats were awarded two picks in last month's draft. Those two selections were parlayed into three rookies: offensive lineman Atonio Mafi, cornerback Ameer Speed and receiver Demario Douglas.

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