Do NFL teams know the formula for comp picks?

One question I'm frequently asked is whether NFL teams know the formula that is used to determine the compensatory draft picks — and in this instance, by "formula," I mean all of the rules for qualification, the rules for determining players' values, the rules for determining the rounds for every pick and any special rules that would affect the comp picks.

Some people assume that the teams have been given the rules or even the entire formula and that it remains a secret only to those of us in the general public. However, although some teams probably have much of the formula figured out, it's obvious that many teams do not know how the NFL determines the comp picks. Every year, we see examples of teams hoping to get certain comp picks that they don't end up getting and examples of teams expressing surprise or confusion after the comp picks are awarded.

This year, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said he expected his team to receive three comp picks. An article on the Falcons' Web site quoted Dimitroff as saying, "That was one of the reasons that we were able to decide on doing that Tony Gonzalez trade, because we knew that we were going to be set up to possibly guard our three compensatory draft picks with some of the free agents we lost. As it stands right now, I’m thinking we possibly will get three compensatory picks, given the play of Domonique Foxworth, Michael Boley and Keith Brooking. Those are the three that I think are going to factor in strongly into our compensatory acquisitions.” In addition, The Atlanta Journal Constitution's D. Orlando Ledbetter reported that Dimitroff said that Mike Peterson would not count as a player signed by the Falcons. When the comp picks were announced, however, the Falcons received only two of them, and Peterson did count in the formula.

On the Jacksonville Jaguars' Web site, senior editor Vic Ketchman reported that Jaguars GM Gene Smith was "hopeful of receiving two" comp picks this year. The Jaguars, who lost three qualifying players and signed two, received only one comp pick.

And in an article on the Cincinnati Bengals' Web site, team president Mike Brown acknowledged that his team went years without knowing how to get comp picks. "Over the whole history of compensatory choices, we went many years without any and being slow to figure things out," Brown said. "We finally did and in recent years we’ve been the recipient of them."

We could find many more examples from previous seasons, but clearly, whatever information the NFL teams have been given regarding comp picks is not sufficient for all of them to know how many picks they'll be getting — or even if they'll be getting any — let alone the placement of those picks.

For teams to know what comp picks will be awarded, they have to try to project them based on whatever information they have. As Green Bay Packers GM Ted Thompson found out, though, that is no easy task. Thompson was quoted in an article at ESPNMilwaukee.com as saying that he and former GM Ron Wolf became so frustrated when they tried to project the comp picks that they gave up on it.

“A long time ago, I decided I wasn’t going to try to predict,” Thompson said. “Ron and I used to try to figure it out, and it would wind up making him really mad and me sort of mad. Some people think they have cracked the code, and that’s OK, (but) I don’t have time for that. Somebody will tell us.”

Comparing 2010 projection to the actual comp picks

Below is a chart showing a comparison of my projections to the comp picks the NFL awarded today. Picks shaded green are those that I projected in the correct round, and picks shaded yellow are those on which I was off by one round. Although I correctly projected Tampa Bay to get a seventh-round pick, I projected it to be a non-compensatory pick, but it turned out to be a net-value pick, so I'm not counting it as a correct pick. I'm also not counting Miami's net-value pick in the seventh round as being off by one round, even though I projected the Dolphins to receive a sixth-round pick.

(Click on the image to see a larger version.)



In the third round, I had the picks for Tennessee and Cincinnati switched. I'll try to figure out why Albert Haynesworth's contract value used in the formula was so low.

In the fourth round, Cincinnati got a pick for Stacy Andrews because Laveranues Coles did not count in the equation. Although I projected Coles to count, I did say that the Bengals probably would get a fourth for Andrews if Coles did not count.

In the fifth round, I had the first three picks correct and in the correct order, but I missed the next three because the cutoff point for the fifth round did not increase nearly as much as I projected — if at all. The lower cutoff point bumped the picks for Minnesota and Green Bay into the fifth round and gave San Diego a fifth for Igor Olshansky instead of a seventh for Mike Goff, as I explained in my projections.

In the sixth round, I had the first three picks correct and in the correct order, but I again missed the next three because the cutoff point did not increase nearly as much as I projected — if at all. In addition, Miami did not get the sixth I projected, because Joe Berger qualified for the equation and I did not project him to qualify.

In the seventh round, I again missed several because players qualified who were not projected to qualify (namely Mark Jones, Hunter Smith, Larry Izzo and Brandon McGowan). In addition, it appears that I need to change the playing time I use for special-teamers (in this case, Hunter Smith and Lonie Paxton). I missed the net-value pick for Miami because Berger qualified, and I missed the net-value pick for Tampa Bay because Angelo Crowell did not, possibly because he was on Injured Reserve for every game of the only season of his contract.

Using the correct cutoff points and the correct playing time for special-teamers, I've been able to recreate the order of all but the first two comp picks of the third round. Figuring out why Tennessee's third-round comp pick for Haynesworth was not the highest pick should help me learn more about what elements in a contract are not included in the formula.

I'll post more as I continue to analyze this year's comp picks.

Looking at the qualifiers and non-qualifiers

To see who officially qualified for the compensatory picks equation this year, click here and scroll down.

As you can tell, the NFL did not include Laveranues Coles in the equation. I suspected that this would happen (click here and scroll to the bottom of the post), but I did not project it because there was no precedent set for disqualifying a player whose contract had voided. (EDIT: Coles' disqualification from the equation was not simply because his "contract was voided last offseason." Many players have qualified after having their contract voided. Coles' voided contract was different, though, because the void was renegotiated into the contract after the end of the final regular season that he played for the Jets. On Feb. 25, 2009, Coles renegotiated his contract to include the void. Two days later, it voided, and he became a true Unrestricted Free Agent. Apparently, and even though the Jets reportedly claimed that Coles would qualify, that method of becoming a true UFA didn't satisfy the requirements for qualification.)

Surprisingly, Angelo Crowell did not qualify, either.

In addition, all four of the players I projected to be just below the qualifying bubble -- Joe Berger, Hunter Smith, Mark Jones and Larry Izzo -- did, in fact qualify. This fact and the fact that several picks ended up one round higher than projected mean that the NFL didn't raise the cutoff points nearly as much as I had projected.

I'll have more analysis later.

UPDATE: Brandon McGowan actually qualified as a player signed by New England, even though his contract value that counts in the formula was only $765,000 per season. I'll try to figure out why.

This year's comp picks mystery

Last year, the biggest mystery surrounding the comp picks concerned Alan Faneca and why the Pittsburgh Steelers got only a fifth-round comp pick for him.

This year, the biggest mystery seems to be why Angelo Crowell did not count as a player signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a true UFA last offseason, he signed on March 18, and he signed for $2.5 million (plus incentives) for one season. Yes, he spent the entire season on Injured Reserve, but players who were on IR have qualified in the past. Perhaps it is because he signed a one-year contract and spent that season on IR. If that is the case, however, would he also be disqualified from the equation next year if he leaves this offseason? Or could he actually count as a player lost after not counting as a player signed?

Another mystery is how the NFL deemed T.J. Houshmandzadeh's value to be greater than Albert Haynesworth's value, which is the reason that Cincinnati got a higher third-round comp pick than Tennessee. Perhaps a big chunk of the money in Haynesworth's contract doesn't count in the formula. I'll take a closer look and see what I can find.

Complete list of 2010 comp picks

As expected, the NFL announced the compensatory picks today. I got 21 correct and was off by one round on five more. I'm not counting Tampa Bay's net value comp pick in the seventh round as a correct projection, because I projected it to be a non-compensatory seventh-rounder. (To see the projections I posted on March 8, click here.) I'll provide an analysis of this year's comp picks as soon as I can.

Here are the 2010 compensatory draft picks, along with the qualifying players signed and lost for each team that received a comp pick --

3 33-96 Cincinnati
3 34-97 Tennessee
3 35-98 Atlanta
4 33-131 Cincinnati
5 33-164 Pittsburgh
5 34-165 Atlanta
5 35-166 Pittsburgh
5 36-167 Minnesota
5 37-168 San Diego
5 38-169 Green Bay
6 33-202 Carolina
6 34-203 Jacksonville
6 35-204 Carolina
6 36-205 New England
6 37-206 San Francisco
6 38-207 Tennessee
7 33-240 Indianapolis
7 34-241 Tennessee
7 35-242 Pittsburgh
7 36-243 Philadelphia
7 37-244 Philadelphia
7 38-245 Seattle
7 39-246 Indianapolis
7 40-247 New England
7 41-248 New England
7 42-249 Carolina
7 43-250 New England
7 44-251 Oakland (net value)
7 45-252 Miami (net value)
7 46-253 Tampa Bay (net value)
7 47-254 St. Louis (non-compensatory)
7 48-255 Detroit (non-compensatory)



And here are the official qualifying players for each team that received a true comp pick or net-value comp pick --


ATLANTA

Lost: Michael Boley, Keith Brooking, Domonique Foxworth, Grady Jackson

Signed: Mike Peterson, Brett Romberg


CAROLINA

Lost: Geoff Hangartner, Mark Jones, Frank Omiyale


CINCINNATI

Lost: Stacy Andrews, Ryan Fitzpatrick, T.J. Houshmandzadeh

Signed: J.T. O’Sullivan


GREEN BAY

Lost: Colin Cole


INDIANAPOLIS

Lost: Darrell Reid, Hunter Smith


JACKSONVILLE

Lost: Khalif Barnes, Mike Peterson, Gerald Sensabaugh

Signed: Sean Considine, Tra Thomas


MIAMI

Lost: Andre’ Goodman, Renaldo Hill

Signed: Joe Berger, Jake Grove


MINNESOTA

Lost: Matt Birk, Darren Sharper

Signed: Karl Paymah


NEW ENGLAND

Lost: Heath Evans, Jabar Gaffney, Larry Izzo, LaMont Jordan, Lonie Paxton

Signed: Brandon McGowan


OAKLAND

Lost: Jake Grove

Signed: Khalif Barnes


PHILADELPHIA

Lost: Correll Buckhalter, Sean Considine, Brian Dawkins, L.J. Smith, Tra Thomas

Signed: Stacy Andrews, Sean Jones, Leonard Weaver


PITTSBURGH

Lost: Byron Leftwich, Bryant McFadden, Nate Washington


SAN DIEGO

Lost: Mike Goff, Igor Olshansky

Signed: Kevin Burnett


SAN FRANCISCO

Lost: Ronald Fields, Bryant Johnson, J.T. O’Sullivan, Donald Strickland

Signed: Demetric Evans, Brandon Jones, Moran Norris


SEATTLE

Lost: Rocky Bernard, Maurice Morris, Leonard Weaver, Floyd Womack

Signed: Colin Cole, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, John Owens


TAMPA BAY

Lost: Phillip Buchanon, Jovan Haye

Signed: Byron Leftwich, Derrick Ward


TENNESSEE

Lost: Chris Carr, Albert Haynesworth, Brandon Jones, Eric King, Daniel Loper, Chris Simms

Signed: Jovan Haye, Mark Jones, Nate Washington

Comp picks appear to be out

There are reports of some teams receiving their comp picks today. If the report of the Bengals' comp picks is true, it looks as though Laveranues Coles did not count in the equation.

I'll post more when I find the complete list.


UPDATE: Those reported so far are a third and a fourth for Cincinnati, a third and a fifth for Atlanta and a seventh for Tampa Bay (likely a non-compensatory pick).

MORE UPDATES: Also reported are a third for Tennessee, a sixth and three sevenths for New England, two sixths and a seventh for Carolina (which means that Mark Jones did qualify), and two fifths and a seventh for Pittsburgh.

It looks like the cutoff points for qualifying and for the rounds increased by less than I projected.

Comp picks could be announced today

The NFL doesn't reveal ahead of time when the compensatory draft picks will be announced, but if the league follows the same timetable as in recent years, the announcement should come today.

The comp picks typically have been announced on the second day of the Annual Meeting, which started Sunday in Orlando, Fla. Last year, when the Annual Meeting was held in California, the picks were announced just after 4:30 p.m. Pacific. If the schedule for the second day of the owners' meeting is similar this year, with the meeting being in the Eastern time zone, I would expect the announcement to come about 4:30 p.m. Eastern today. However, the announcement could come at any time today or possibly not until Tuesday.

As soon as I see that the picks have been announced, I will post them here, but they should be available at NFL.com and most major media Web sites just as quickly, if not sooner. I'll also post an analysis as soon as possible and will answer any questions posted in the comments section of this blog. You do not need to register to post a comment.

To review my projections for this year's comp picks, click here.

To see how my projections have fared in previous years, click here.


UPDATE: Joe Reedy, the Bengals beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, reports via his Twitter account that the announcement "could get delayed until tomorrow."

MORE UPDATES: Philly.com, the Charlotte Observer and the official Twitter feed of the Washington Redskins also reported that the announcement is expected to come tomorrow.

Projecting the 2010 Compensatory NFL Draft Picks

Note: In order to save me the time I could spend visiting numerous forums and message boards answering questions about this year's projections, please direct anyone with questions to this blog. Questions that are posed in the comments section of this post and subsequent related posts will be answered. You do not need to register to comment.

For the ninth consecutive year and 10th overall, I’ve attempted to project all of the compensatory draft picks that the NFL will award. In my past seven projections, I’ve averaged 24.4 out of 32 exactly correct (going to the correct team in the correct round) and have been off by only one round on an average of four more. Last year, I got 26 correct and was off by one round on three more. Unless the NFL has unexpectedly changed the formula, I'm expecting similar results this year. My recent projections also have been successful at projecting much of the exact order of the comp picks, regardless of round, and I'm hoping to have that trend continue as well.

As the NFL explains, compensatory picks are awarded to teams that lose more or better compensatory free agents than they acquire. The number of picks a team can receive equals the net loss of compensatory free agents, up to a maximum of four. Compensatory free agents are determined by a secret formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Not every free agent lost or signed is covered by the formula.

Although the formula has never been revealed, by studying the compensatory picks that have been awarded since they began in 1994, I’ve determined that the primary factor in the value of the picks awarded is the average annual value of the contract the player signed with his new team, with an adjustment for playing time and a smaller adjustment for postseason honors. It should be noted that the contract value used in the equation does not include some parts of the contract, and that the contract information reported in the media is often incorrect.

Each qualifying player has a value based on his contract, playing time and postseason honors, and that value corresponds to a round in the draft. In the compensatory equation, each qualifying player that a team signs cancels out a qualifying player that the team lost whose value is the highest in the same round. If there are no lost players remaining in that round, the signed player cancels out the lost player whose value is the next-highest. A signed player will cancel out a lost player whose value falls in a higher round only if there are no remaining lost players. After all of a team's qualifying signed players have canceled out a lost player, the team can receive a comp pick for each qualifying player who remains. For example, consider a team that loses one qualifying player whose value falls in the third round and another qualifying player whose value falls in the sixth round but signs a qualifying player whose value falls in the third round. That team would receive a sixth-round comp pick because the signed player would cancel out the loss of the higher-valued player. If the signed player’s value were equal to a fourth-round pick or lower, however, the team would receive a third-round comp pick, because the signed player would cancel out the loss of the lower-valued player.

It is possible for a team to get a compensatory pick even if it doesn’t suffer a net loss of qualifying free agents. That type of comp pick comes at the end of the seventh round, after the normal comp picks and before the non-compensatory picks that are added if fewer than 32 comp picks are awarded. There have been 14 of these “net value” type of comp picks awarded, and in each case, the combined value of the free agents lost was significantly higher than the combined value of the free agents added. In all 14 cases, those teams lost the same number of qualifying free agents as they signed. No team has been awarded a comp pick after signing more qualifying free agents than it lost, no matter how significant the difference in combined value. This year, I’m projecting that Oakland will receive a net-value comp after losing Jake Grove and signing Khalif Barnes, whose value is less than one-sixth of Grove's value. According to my projections, none of the other teams that lost and signed the same number of qualifying players suffered a loss in value that was significant enough to warrant a net-value comp pick. Arizona came the closest, followed by Baltimore and Buffalo, but they all fell short of the projected loss in value that is necessary to receive a net-value comp pick.

For the third consecutive year, I’ve used a mathematical formula to weight the three factors that determine a player’s value in the comp equation (his contract, his playing time and his postseason awards, if any). Using this formula, I’ve been able to reconstruct almost precisely the order of the comp picks that were awarded in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. In two of those years, I have been able to reconstruct the exact order, and in other year, the only difference was that the order of two consecutive picks was switched because of a minuscule difference in values. I don’t know if I have the factors weighted correctly, but given that my projected order of a number of comp picks has frequently matched the order of the actual comp picks, I think I’m probably pretty close.

As always, please note that my comp pick formula is merely an attempt to project the results of the actual (secret) formula. I don’t pretend to know the actual formula, but I think previous results indicate that the formula I use is a pretty good simulation.

In order to qualify for the comp equation, a player must have been a true Unrestricted Free Agent whose contract had expired or was voided after the previous season (i.e., he cannot have been released by his old team); he must sign during the UFA signing period (which ended July 27 last year); if he signs after June 1, he must have been tendered a June 1 qualifying offer by his old team; his compensatory value or contract value must be above a specific minimum amount; and he cannot have been permanently released by his new team before a certain point in the season (which seems to be after Week 10) or, possibly, before getting a certain amount of playing time, unless he was claimed off waivers by another team.

The most difficult part about projecting the comp picks is determining all of the cutoff points – the minimum value needed to qualify and the value ranges for each round of the draft. The comp picks awarded in previous years suggest that the cutoff points increase each year by a small percentage – approximately the same percentage by which the leaguewide salary cap increases. From 2008 to 2009, the cap went up 9.65 percent, so I used a 9.65 percent increase when estimating the cutoff points for this year’s comp picks. In some cases, I used the percentage increases since 2007, 2006 or even 2005 to compare the values of this year's players to the values of qualifying players from previous years whose draft round value is known.

Last year, the lowest-paid player who is known to have qualified for the NFL’s comp equation was Aaron Glenn, who signed for a one-year deal for $870,000 and played a little less than 20 percent of the snaps in 2008. The highest-paid player who is known to have not qualified was Pierson Prioleau, who signed a one-year deal for $830,000 and also played a little less than 20 percent of the snaps. This year, there are eight players I consider "on the bubble" for qualifying. Floyd Womack, Jason Wright, Brett Romberg and John Owens each signed for at least $950,000 and should qualify, based on Glenn qualifying last year. Joe Berger, Mark Jones, Hunter Smith and Larry Izzo each signed for between $875,000 and $909,000 and are not projected to qualify, based more on Marcus Wilkins ($816,667) not qualifying for the 2008 comp picks than for Prioleau not qualifying in 2009.

There were two unusual cases this year, one involving Laveranues Coles and one involving Bobby Engram.

Coles renegotiated his contract on Feb. 25, 2009, giving up a $6 million guaranteed salary in exchange for allowing his 2009 season to void. Two days later, his contract voided, and he became an Unrestricted Free Agent. Plenty of players have qualified for the comp equation after becoming UFAs because their contract voided, even if the voidable year was put in the contract through renegotiation. However, Coles' situation is a little less clear because of the timing involved. Normally, a player "earns" a void in his contract by doing something more than simply waiting two days, so it's possible that the NFL will not consider Coles eligible for the comp picks equation. Players who have had contract years simply deleted — not converted to voidable years — by renegotiation have never qualified for the equation, and Coles' situation is close to that. However, because a voidable year has never disqualified a player from the equation, I am projecting that Coles will qualify.

Engram's situation is a little less complicated. He was released by Kansas City on Monday, Nov. 9, which was the last day of Week 9 and the start of Week 10. Previous cases of players being released during the season seem to indicate that players who are released by Week 10 and not claimed off waivers will not qualify for the comp picks equation. For that reason, I am projecting that Engram will not qualify, but because he released close to the deadline, it is possible that he will qualify.

Last year, regardless of playing time or postseason honors, the third-round comp players had signed for at least $6.5 million per season, the fourth-round comp players had signed for $4.8 million to $6 million, all but one of the fifth-round comp players had signed for $4 million to $5 million, the sixth-round comp players had signed for $2.7 million to $3.9 million, and the seventh-round comp players had signed for less than $2.65 million per season. Note that there are huge gaps between some rounds, and that there is an overlap between the fourth and fifth rounds because of the adjustments for playing time. You’ll find the contract values for each round of this year’s projected picks in the list a few paragraphs below this one.

I mentioned that all but one of last year's fifth-round comp players had signed for $4 million to $5 million. Because of a rule that had never been revealed until after last year's comp picks were awarded, the Pittsburgh Steelers got only a fifth-round comp pick for Alan Faneca, even though he signed for $7.8 million per season, played more than 98 percent of the Jets' offensive snaps and made the Pro Bowl. A rule stipulates that a team cannot receive more than a fifth-round comp pick for a player with 10 or more seasons of NFL experience. After the rule was revealed, I found several times in previous seasons when it had been invoked. What still is not known, however, is whether the rule applies to the player's value in the equation or whether it applies only for the placement of a comp pick. In other words, does it affect which player a 10-year veteran cancels out by being signed or lost, or does it come into play only when a team is due to receive a comp pick for a player with 10 or more seasons of experience? This year, there are no qualifying players with at least 10 years of experience whose value in the formula is higher than a fifth-round pick, so that question will remain unanswered for at least another year.

As I alluded to earlier, the NFL adds non-compensatory picks if fewer than 32 comp picks are awarded. The non-compensatory picks are given, in order, to the teams that would be drafting if there were an eighth round, until the maximum of 32 has been reached. If there are 29 comps, for example, the NFL would give additional picks to the teams that would have the first three picks in the eighth round, if there were one. This year, I’m projecting that 27 true comp picks will be awarded, including Oakland’s comp pick for a net-value loss, which I mentioned earlier. Therefore, I’m projecting that St. Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Washington will receive non-compensatory picks to fill out the maximum number of picks. If the NFL’s equation results in more than three non-compensatory picks being added, the next five teams in line to receive one would be Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle, Buffalo and Chicago, in that order.

Here are the projected picks for 2010, along with the compensatory player, their contract value that was used in the equation, their games played and their games started (I’ve also noted the eight picks that fall near a cutoff point and could end up in a different round, along with two other picks that could be affected by the cutoff points) —

THIRD ROUND

Tennessee (Albert Haynesworth, $11.37 million per season, 12 GP/12 GS)

Cincinnati (T.J. Houshmandzadeh, $8 million, 16/16) — possibly a fourth- or fifth-round pick for Stacy Andrews

Atlanta (Dominique Foxworth, $6.8 million, 16/16) — possibly a fourth-round pick

FOURTH ROUND

None

FIFTH ROUND

Pittsburgh (Bryant McFadden, $4.75 million, 16/16)

Atlanta (Michael Boley, $4.8 million, 11/11)

Pittsburgh (Nate Washington, $4.47 million, 16/15) — possibly a sixth-round pick

SIXTH ROUND

Minnesota (Matt Birk, $4 million, 16/16) — possibly a fifth-round pick

Green Bay (Colin Cole, $4.28 million, 16/15) – possibly a fifth-round pick

Carolina (Geoff Hangartner, $3.15 million, 16/16)

Jacksonville (Mike Peterson, $3 million, 16/16)

Carolina (Frank Omiyale, $2.64 million, 16/12) — possibly a seventh-round pick

Miami (Renaldo Hill, $2.5 million, 15/15) — possibly a seventh-round pick

SEVENTH ROUND

New England (Jabar Gaffney, $2.5 million, 16/7) — possibly a sixth-round pick

Tennessee (Chris Carr, $2.5 million, 16/4) — possibly a sixth-round pick

Indianapolis (Darrell Reid, $2.27 million, 16/0)

Tennessee (Eric King, $2.125 million, 4/1)

Tennessee (Daniel Loper, $2 million, 8/5)

Pittsburgh (Byron Leftwich, $2 million, 3/3)

Philadelphia (Sean Considine, $1.45 million, 11/6)

Philadelphia (L.J. Smith, $1.5 million, 12/0)

San Diego (Mike Goff, $1.35 million, 8/7) — possibly a fifth- or sixth-round pick for Igor Olshansky

San Francisco (Donald Strickland, $1.11 million, 9/2)

New England (Lonie Paxton, $1.03 million, 16/0)

New England (Heath Evans, $1.05 million, 6/5)

Seattle (Floyd Womack, $950,000, 13/9)

New England (LaMont Jordan, $1.01 million, 9/0)

Oakland (net-value comp pick; lost $5.7 million, 12/10; signed $1 million, 6/2)

St. Louis (non-compensatory pick)

Detroit (non-compensatory pick)

Tampa Bay (non-compensatory pick)

Kansas City (non-compensatory pick)

Washington (non-compensatory pick)

As noted, the values of eight comp picks fell near the cutoff points between rounds, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the comp picks for Foxworth is in the fourth round, if the comp picks for Washington is in the sixth round, if the comp picks for Birk and/or Cole are in the fifth round, if the comp picks for Omiyale and/or Hill are in the seventh round or if the comp picks for Gaffney and/or Carr are in the sixth round. Of course, other projected picks could be off by one round (or more) if the NFL happened to change the formula or increase the cutoff points by significantly more or less than I projected.

In addition to those eight picks, two of the other comp picks could be affected by the cutoff points between rounds, if a player who was canceled out has a value in a round different from where I projected their value to be.

For Cincinnati, Laveranues Coles' value as a player signed is projected to be in the fourth round, but there is a chance that his value could be just enough to fall in the third round. If so, his signing will cancel out the loss of T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the Bengals will receive a comp pick for the loss of Stacy Andrews, most likely in the fourth round but possibly in the fifth. In addition, if Coles is disqualified from the equation because his contract was renegotiated to void the 2009 season, the Bengals will receive comp picks for both Houshmandzadeh and Andrews.

For San Diego, Igor Olshanky's value as a player lost is on the borderline of the fifth and sixth rounds, and Kevin Burnett's value as a player signed is on the borderline of the sixth and seventh rounds. My projections put both of them in the sixth round, leaving the Chargers with a seventh-round comp pick for Mike Goff. However, if the values of Olshansky or Burnett – or both – do not fall in the sixth round, the Chargers will receive a comp pick for Olshansky instead of one for Goff. The placement of that pick will depend on whether Olshansky's value falls in the fifth round or the sixth round.

Here are the qualifying players lost and signed (in order of value) for the 16 teams that I’m projecting will receive comp picks, with the projected compensatory players in bold —

ATLANTA

Lost: Dominique Foxworth, Michael Boley, Keith Brooking, Grady Jackson

Signed: Mike Peterson, Brett Romberg

CAROLINA

Lost: Geoff Hangartner, Frank Omiyale

Signed: None

CINCINNATI

Lost: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Stacy Andrews, Ryan Fitzpatrick

Signed: Laveranues Coles, J.T. O’Sullivan

GREEN BAY

Lost: Colin Cole

Signed: None

INDIANAPOLIS

Lost: Darrell Reid

Signed: None

JACKSONVILLE

Lost: Mike Peterson, Gerald Sensabaugh, Khalif Barnes

Signed: Tra Thomas, Sean Considine

MIAMI

Lost: Andre Goodman, Renaldo Hill

Signed: Jake Grove

MINNESOTA

Lost: Matt Birk, Darren Sharper

Signed: Karl Paymah

NEW ENGLAND

Lost: Jabar Gaffney, Lonie Paxton, Heath Evans, LaMont Jordan

Signed: None

OAKLAND

Lost: Jake Grove

Signed: Khalif Barnes

PHILADELPHIA

Lost: Brian Dawkins, Tra Thomas, Correll Buckhalter, Sean Considine, L.J. Smith

Signed: Stacy Andrews, Sean Jones, Leonard Weaver

PITTSBURGH

Lost: Bryant McFadden, Nate Washington, Byron Leftwich

Signed: None

SAN DIEGO

Lost: Igor Olshansky, Mike Goff

Signed: Kevin Burnett

SAN FRANCISCO

Lost: Bryant Johnson, Ronald Fields, J.T. O’Sullivan, Donald Strickland

Signed: Brandon Jones, Moran Norris, Demetric Evans

SEATTLE

Lost: Rocky Bernard, Maurice Morris, Leonard Weaver, Floyd Womack

Signed: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Colin Cole, John Owens

TENNESSEE

Lost: Albert Haynesworth, Brandon Jones, Chris Simms, Chris Carr, Eric King, Daniel Loper

Signed: Nate Washington, Jovan Haye

Anyone else who was lost or signed by one of those teams last offseason is not projected to qualify for the equation, for one reason or another. Remember, players have to meet certain criteria in order to qualify for the equation (see the eighth paragraph of these projections for a summary of the criteria), so a lot of players will not count in the equation. Most of the time, it’s either because the player had been released by his previous team and therefore was not a true UFA or because the player didn’t sign for enough money to qualify.

If I’m wrong about the values of certain players or whether some players will or will not qualify for the equation, that will affect the comp picks. Here’s what would happen in certain instances –

If Laveranues Coles does not qualify, Cincinnati will receive a comp pick for Stacy Andrews in either the fourth or fifth round, most likely the fourth, in addition to the third-round comp pick for T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

If Kevin Burnett's value falls in the seventh round instead of the sixth round, San Diego will receive a comp pick for Igor Olshansky instead of a comp pick for Mike Goff. The comp pick for Olshansky will be in either the fifth or sixth round, between Pittsburgh's comp pick for Nate Washington and Minnesota's comp pick for Matt Birk. Or, if Olshansky's value falls in the fifth round, San Diego will receive a fifth-round comp pick for him, regardless of whether Burnett's value falls in the sixth round or seventh round.

If Bobby Engram qualifies, Seattle will receive a seventh-round comp pick for him immediately before its comp pick for Floyd Womack.

If John Owens does not qualify, Seattle will receive a seventh-round comp pick for Leonard Weaver, between Tennessee's comp picks for Eric King and Daniel Loper.

If Floyd Womack does not qualify, Seattle will not receive a comp pick for him.

If Joe Berger qualifies, Miami will not receive a comp pick for Renaldo Hill.

If Jason Wright does not qualify, Arizona will receive a comp pick for Antonio Smith in either the third round or fourth round, most likely in the third, after Cincinnati's comp pick for T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

If Brett Romberg does not qualify, Atlanta will receive a seventh-round comp pick for Grady Jackson, before Indianapolis' comp pick for Darrell Reid.

If Hunter Smith qualifies, Indianapolis will receive a seventh-round comp pick for him, after New England's comp pick for LaMont Jordan.

If Mark Jones qualifies, Carolina will receive a seventh-round comp pick for him after New England's comp pick for LaMont Jordan (and Indianapolis' comp pick for Hunter Smith, if there is one), and Tennessee will not receive a seventh-round comp pick for Daniel Loper.

If Larry Izzo qualifies, it will not affect the comp picks, because New England already will have received the maximum of four comp picks, but his name will appear on New England's list of qualifying players lost.

If Arizona, Baltimore and/or Buffalo receive net-value comp picks, they would come after Oakland's net-value pick in the seventh round.

Any combination of these additional comp picks and/or fewer comp picks being awarded could increase or reduce the number of non-compensatory picks added to the end of the draft. As I mentioned earlier, the next five teams in line for non-compensatory picks are Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle, Buffalo and Chicago.

Under no circumstances will more than 32 picks be awarded, so if I have made numerous significant mistakes and there are more true comp picks than I have projected, one or more of the lowest-valued picks in my projection or in my summary of possible other scenarios might not be awarded, if they’re not one of the 32 highest-valued comp picks. Only the 32 highest-valued comp picks will be awarded.

The NFL typically awards the compensatory picks on the second day of the Annual Meeting, which will be March 22 this year (the meeting will be March 21-24 in Orlando, Fla.). After the comp picks are announced, I’ll review what the NFL did and where my projections were incorrect, although I’ve already presented some other possibilities.

Note: For a look at why any of the 16 other teams are not projected to receive comp picks, click on the team's name to see my preliminary summary for that team — Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, New Orleans, N.Y. Giants, N.Y. Jets, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Washington. You also can click here to see the list of every UFA lost or signed who had the potential of qualifying.

Accuracy of previous projections

I'm in the process of writing up this year's final projections. For now, though, here's a look at the accuracy of my projections in previous years. My first attempt in 1998 was done using very little history on which to base my projections and questionable contract information from media reports. As my sources have gotten better and my information more precise, my projections have gotten much more accurate. Aside from the 2007 comp picks, which were more difficult to project because of the huge jump in the salary cap after the 2006 CBA extension, I've typically gotten 25 or 26 exactly correct and missed by one round on about four others. More precise information also has allowed me to project the exact order of picks in many cases. Although my ultimate goal is to project all 32 comp picks correctly and in the precise order of the actual comp picks, there are too many judgment calls every year to make that reasonably possible. I will, however, keep trying.

Here are the result of my previous comp pick projections (with links to all of the projections since 2002) --

1998 — I projected 23 comps; the NFL awarded 19. I had 15 of them going to the correct team, with 10 going to the correct team in the correct round and three more off by one round.
2002 — 22 correct, four others off by one round
2003 — 26 correct, four others off by one round
2004 — 26 correct, two others off by one round
2005 — 22 correct, six others off by one round
2006 — 26 correct, four others off by one round
2007 — 20 correct, five others off by one round
2008 — 25 correct, four others off by one round
2009 — 26 correct, three others off by one round

Note: I do not count "cheap" correct picks. For example, if I project a team to receive a fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick but they instead receive a sixth and a seventh, I would count both of them as being off by one round. If, however, I am certain that the sixth-round pick was for the player I projected in that slot, I will count that pick as correct. The team's other pick, which I projected as being a fifth but was a seventh instead (and almost certainly for a different player), would simply be incorrect.

Comp pick projections coming soon

Many people have wondered when I will post my final projections for the 2010 compensatory picks. I am in the process of finalizing those now. That process consists of verifying all of my information for this year's qualifying players and re-verifying certain information for previous years' qualifying players and comp picks, which were used to help project the values for this year's picks. Once I have verified all of this information and I am satisfied that the projections are the best I can do, all that's left is to write up the explanation of my projections and all other possible scenarios for this year's comp picks. At this point, I am hoping to post my final projections no later than March 9.