Saints Awarded Three Compensatory Picks for NFL Draft

The Saints received three compensatory picks for the NFL draft, which should give them six choices overall.

It's pretty foreign territory, but it's finally happened. The New Orleans Saints have been awarded compensatory picks. The team has three of the 37 handed out by the league, and are one of 17 teams to get them. Here's the breakdown.

• Round 3, 98th Overall
• Round 3, 105th Overall
• Round 6, 217th Overall

How is this computed? The press release by the NFL details the long and short of it.

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL management council. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula. No club may receive more than four compensatory picks in any one year. If a club qualifies for more than four compensatory picks after offsetting each CFA lost by each CFA gained of an equal or higher value, the four highest remaining selections will be awarded to the club.

New Orleans received these picks via Teddy Bridgewater (Panthers), Terry Fontenot becoming GM of the Falcons, and A.J. Klein (Bills).

The Saints are picking 28th overall, and as we detailed in mid-January, there were three projected picks. So, that means the team will have the following picks.

• Round 1
• Round 2
• Round 3, Compensatory Pick
• Round 3, Compensatory Pick
• Round 4
• Round 6, Compensatory Pick

The others? Well, this what happened to them. We also still haven't heard about the NFL's expected discipline for their last COVID-19 violation, so perhaps it's not wise to get too comfortable with all of the picks.

• Round 3 - Zack Baun trade from last year's draft. Browns got the 88th overall and New Orleans' 2021 3rd Round pick for 74th overall from the Browns and their 7th Rounder (244th Overall).
• Round 5 - Kwon Alexander trade to the 49ers, based on the conditions met. From what I've heard, the conditional 5th Round pick used to acquire him does not apply until next year, however that is not concrete, so we'll operate under the assumption that it's not there.
• Round 6 - The Saints traded with the Texans last year to get Tommy Stevens with the 240th pick in the 7th Round, but gave up their 2021 sixth-round pick in the process.
• Round 7 - This pick was stripped from New Orleans on Nov. 29 as part of the NFL's discipline for repeated violations of the league's COVID-19 protocols