Ruskell's Secret Plan

by abender20 on Mar 13, 2009 8:46 AM PDT in Seahawks News & Rumors

Last offseason, the Seahawks lost 4 more players to free agency than they signed. Why is this significant? The NFL awards compensatory picks to teams with a net loss of players through free agency in the previous year. Bleacher Report has the scoop on the team's potential ~~bonanaza~~ ~~windfall~~ mildly good fortune. Attaining these picks depends on whether or not the Hawks sign any more free agents.

What sort of flexibility will these four (potential) extra picks bring?

Unfortunately, the Seahawks will not be able to trade any of the compensatory picks, and they all come at the end of the seventh. But it basically gives the Hawks a jump on signing undrafted free agents -- it will be like the old 12-round drafts.

Still, there is the occasional 7th round steal like Marques Colston, Matt Cassell, Ahmad Bradshaw, or Cortland Finnegan. Maybe this is the year Tim Ruskell finds the gem that leaves us all smiling. Either way, the Hawks will have the pick of the litter with respect to the UFA types. Why re-sign guys like Mo Morris when you can bag another Auburn receiver the following draft?

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So this is awesome...

Kind of like arbitration for baseball.

Wikipedia says that we can get a 3rd to 7th round ‘sandwich pick’, but The Bleacher Report implies that we will only get the end of the 7th round picks. Wikipedia says that if we sign and lose the same number of FAs then we can only get 7th round compensatory picks, but this is not the case for us. Am I reading this wrong, and how do we get the compensatory picks at the end of the 3rd round?

by LantermanC on Mar 13, 2009 8:59 AM PDT reply actions

The picks are awarded similarly to baseball's compensatory pick method.

Someone makes an arbitrary ruling on how valuable the players are that each team lost.

by abender20 on Mar 13, 2009 9:02 AM PDT up reply actions

Well, we might get better than 4 7th because

Josh Brown, Niko(for a short period), and Kevin Bentley all started. DJ will most likely give us a 7th.

by Built2Spill on Mar 13, 2009 9:50 AM PDT up reply actions

Salary matters as well, and Koutouvides signed for 3 years, 7.5 mil. That may potentially warrant a 6th rounder.

I doubt Bentley draws more than a 7th, as he was a mostly spare part.

by abender20 on Mar 13, 2009 9:55 AM PDT up reply actions

The KFFL link farther down the thread has this

SEATTLE
Lost: Josh Brown, Niko Koutouvides, Chuck Darby, Ellis Wyms, Kevin Bentley, D.J. Hackett
Signed: Julius Jones, T.J. Duckett

If this is right, we get compensation for the last 4, so I wouldn’t expect much better than a 7th for any.

by Ezzra on Mar 13, 2009 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Hm... and it's only based on the last two years?

Rocky Bernard wasn’t too valuable, but more valuable than most…

by LantermanC on Mar 13, 2009 10:15 AM PDT up reply actions

Nevermind. From the players mentioned,

apparently the compensation picks are one year behind.

by LantermanC on Mar 13, 2009 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions

Kind of like the arbitration aspect of baseball...

but no where near as broken.

by BrianL on Mar 13, 2009 10:20 AM PDT up reply actions

Do you have a list of Seahawks prior years compensatory picks

so we can see it from a historical perspective?

by diehard82 on Mar 13, 2009 8:59 AM PDT reply actions

In the last few years,

Jordan Kent (2007, end of the 6th round), Obamanu (2006, end of 7th), LeRoy Hill (2005, end of 3rd), Doug Nienhaus (2005, end of 7th).

by abender20 on Mar 13, 2009 9:07 AM PDT up reply actions

There's a poster over at kffl.com

That projects the comp picks each year, and is usually spot on

http://forums.kffl.com/showthread.php?t=247418

The NFL keeps the formula secret, but he’s done a great job of figuring it out and explaining it. The comp picks are based on the number of qualifying FA’s lost vs. the number gained. Salary is the biggest factor, followed by games started/played and then post season honors, if applicable.

by jteckmann on Mar 13, 2009 10:02 AM PDT reply actions

Wow, VERY interesting

Always wondered where the hell those picks came from. So what you’re (or he) is saying is, if we’d let Hill hit free-agency, and he signed for the estimated $6MM+ per season, we’d have received at least a 4th round compensatory pick, maybe third round. Not bad. Would definitely take the sting out of losing a guy like that. When does Russel become a free-agent? Oh, that’s right, someone else has to sign him. Damn.

by diehard82 on Mar 13, 2009 4:00 PM PDT up reply actions