GREEN BAY -- The NFL announced the compensatory draft picks for the upcoming 2017 NFL Draft, and the Packers have been awarded a fifth-round selection based on the team's net loss in free agency the previous year.
The Packers lost CB Casey Hayward and backup QB Scott Tolzien as free agents last year and did not sign any qualifying free agents with expired contracts. Based on the language of the NFL's announcement, it appears the fifth-round pick is compensation for Hayward only, and Tolzien did not rank high enough amongst the free agents who changed teams to count in the compensatory formula.
The formula takes into account the length and size of the contract the player signed with his new team, plus playing time and any league honors earned.
Green Bay's compensatory choice will come at the end of the fifth round, in effect giving the Packers a pair of fifth-round picks. As of now, the Packers have eight selections in all in the 2017 draft.
One change in the draft this year is that, for the first time, compensatory picks can be traded. The league awards 32 compensatory picks each year, a number that corresponds with the number of teams in the league, and they are placed at the end of the third through seventh rounds.
Since the awarding of compensatory picks began back in 1994, the Packers have now received 38 compensatory choices, second-most in the league behind only Baltimore (48).
In the Ted Thompson era as GM, compensatory draft picks have netted players such as G Josh Sitton (2008), DT Mike Daniels (2012), and TE Richard Rodgers (2014). Last year, the Packers had two fourth-round compensatory picks and used them on LB Blake Martinez and DE Dean Lowry. The team's most recent fifth-round compensatory selections were used on T Marshall Newhouse (2010) and WR Jared Abbrederis (2014).
Here are the number of compensatory choices awarded to each team that received at least one this year:
Cincinnati 4, Cleveland 4, Denver 4, Kansas City 4, Miami 3, L.A. Rams 2, Seattle 2, Arizona 1, Baltimore 1, Carolina 1, Green Bay 1, Indianapolis 1, New England 1, N.Y. Jets 1, Pittsburgh 1, San Francisco 1. Total: 32.
