The NFL this afternoon revealed 34 compensatory picks have been awarded to 14 teams, and the Cincinnati Bengals got in on the action.
Cincinnati has been granted two sixth-round picks by the NFL Management Council, the committee that goes through the compensatory pick process every year and calculates which teams will be rewarded with extra draft capital.
An expert in the process believes the Bengals might have a reason to be upset at how it all turned out.
Bengals appear to have deserved a third-round compensatory pick
Two very important transactions occurred around this time last year. The Atlanta Falcons signed former Bengals safety Jessie Bates to a four-year, $64.020 million contract, and the Bengals signed former Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Orlando Brown to a four-year, $64.092 million contract.
By an extremely small margin, Brown's contract barely edged Bates' in terms of Average Annual Value (AAV), but Bates happened to play a greater percentage of snaps for Atlanta, and was a Pro Bowler and Second Team All-Pro.
Because of his snaps played and accolades, Bates accumulated enough points, per Over The Cap's Nick Korte, to warrant a third-round compensatory pick for the Bengals. Korte believes the NFL miscalculated the cutoff between third and fourth-round picks.
What does Brown and his contract have to do with this? Well, Brown's AAV, snaps played, and lack of accolades put his value below Bates, clearly in the fourth-round range. In order to get a compensatory pick in a certain round, you can't have signed a player in the same level as the player you lost.
Bates was calculated as a fourth-rounder like Brown, so the Bengals didn't get a comp pick for losing Bates. This is the crux of what Korte believes should be the Bengals' frustration.
Can the Bengals get the comp pick they deserve?
This is definitely worth the Bengals' time, as the difference between a draft pick just inside the top 100 selections and one outside the top 200 is massive. The compensatory pick system is supposed to compensate (hence the name) teams for the value that they lost.
Clearly, Bates' value matched what warranted a third-round pick this year, and Brown's value was slightly below that. They shouldn't be considered equals and be cancelled out.
Korte also referenced examples of the NFL admitting errors in the process and rewarding additional comp picks, so there is a chance the Bengals could be receiving justice if Korte's evaluation is correct. The most recent correction was back in 2021.
Having an extra third-round pick would do wonders for the Bengals' draft plans this year. They have significant needs at offensive tackle, defensive tackle, and tight end.
We'll find out shortly if the league decides to make this right, if there's enough evidence to support such a thing happening.
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