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.
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.
In order to make this work, the 3rd/4th round cutoff would have to been in a verry narrow range between the contracts of Javon Hargrave (valued by the NFLMC as a 3rd) & Jessie Bates (valued as a 4th), at the 62nd ranked player.
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) March 8, 2024
This makes no sense. pic.twitter.com/qpS9X3dUz2
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.
If Jessie Bates's contract was valued as a 3rd, and Orlando Brown Jr.'s was valued as a 4th, this is what the Bengals' cancellation chart would have looked like: a 3rd and a 6th, instead of two 6ths. pic.twitter.com/ggdirDLfnP
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) March 8, 2024
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.
The NFL Management Council has made errors before.
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) March 8, 2024
In 2015, it had a "database error". https://t.co/qfUusw93Pf
And in 2021 it awarded an extra compensatory pick after erroneously missing a Patriots pick.https://t.co/VMT61krcJK
There could be a chance they made another error.
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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