K.J. Osborn signing a one-year, $4 million deal with the Patriots on Sunday means the Vikings are currently in line to receive two compensatory third-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. That puts them in line to have three third-rounders next year.
If you're unfamiliar with how comp picks work, here's a quick explainer. Each year, the NFL awards compensatory draft picks in round three through seven to teams who lose more value in free agency than they gain. There's a formula based on players' salaries, playing time, and postseason honors that determines how the picks are allotted. The league also awards picks to teams who have minority assistant coaches or front office staffers go on to earn a head coach or general manager position somewhere else.
To qualify as a compensatory free agent, a player has to earn at least (roughly) $3 million per year on a new contract. Every CFA that a team loses is cancelled out by a CFA that they sign. If they lose more than they add, they're in line to potentially earn a compensatory pick, the value of which correlates with the salaries of the most expensive players a team loses in free agency.
Over The Cap does a great job tracking these. Here's what the chart currently looks like for the Vikings:
Because the Vikings have lost six CFAs to other teams and signed four CFAs, they're in line to get third-round picks from Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter, who have signed two of the three biggest free agent contracts in the league (in terms of average annual value) this spring. Notably, players who are released by their previous teams (such as Aaron Jones or Jerry Tillery) don't count in the formula.
Even if the Vikings add another CFA or two, those moves could be cancelled out if Dalton Risner and/or Josh Dobbs sign for at least $3 million with a new team.
These two third-round comp picks will be just outside of the top 100 overall picks in 2025. They provide a big boost to the Vikings' draft capital next year, which could make GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah feel comfortable trading several picks to move up for a quarterback this year.
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