The Seattle Seahawks were awarded four compensatory draft picks Monday, meaning they’ll head into the 2015 pick with 11 picks. Seattle will get one pick at the end of the fourth round (134 overall), a fifth-rounder (170), and two sixth-round picks (209 and 2014).
The league awards compensatory picks to teams that lost more or better free agents than it signed the previous offseason, with teams allowed a maximum of four picks. The Seahawks last year lost Golden Tate, Breno Giamoni, Brandon Browner and Clinton McDonald, qualifying them for four picks since they signed no qualifying free agents.
The Seahawks traded away their first-round pick as part of the Jimmy Graham trade, and their sixth-rounder for Marcus Burley, but they have their original picks in the second, third and fourth rounds, plus one extra fourth for the Graham-Max Unger trade, and the compensatory pick, their original fifth plus the compensatory pick, the New York Jets’ sixth (Percy Harvin), two compensatory sixes, and their original seventh.
In other words, right now, Seattle’s picks are: 2nd round (63rd overall), 3rd (95), 4th (112), 4th (130), 4th (134), 5th (167), 5th (170), 6th (180), 6th (209), 6th (214), 7th (248). Though given Seattle’s preponderance for draft-day trades, especially moving back to acquire more picks, it’s safe to assume they won’t actually pick in all of those spots. The compensatory picks, however, cannot be traded.
With the Seahawks losing Byron Maxwell, James Carpenter, Malcolm Smith, Jeron Johnson and O’Brien Schofield this year while not making many additions (players who have been cut, such as cornerback Cary Williams, don’t count towards the compensatory pick formula), they will likely load up on compensatory picks in 2016 as well.
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