No compensatory picks expected for Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have nine picks in the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft, and it is expected to stay that way. When compensatory picks are soon announced (picks awarded to teams based on the free agents they lost + gained a year earlier), it is not expected that the Seahawks will be getting any coming their way. Not even in the seventh round.

UPDATE, 2:00 p.m.: The official announcement confirms our suspicion.

Four teams — the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders — received four comp picks apiece. The Arizona Cardinals were the only NFC West team to be granted extra selections for 2018, and they came away with three, including a third-rounder, a fourth and a seventh.

Last year, Seattle lacked notable free agents, the biggest of which was kicker Stephen Hauschka, who signed a three-year, $8.85 million deal with the Buffalo Bills. They also “lost” Garry Gilliam, Bradley Sowell, John Jenkins, Brock Coyle, Brandon Williams, and Damontre Moore. As you can imagine, none of these players are likely to be considered huge losses, but compensatory picks are mainly based on salary (the actual formula used by the NFL is kept secret) which just further pounds home that the Seahawks aren’t going to be adding to their pick pool.

OverTheCap.com has their full list of expected comp picks, and Seattle is not seen anywhere. Their NFC West rivals - the Arizona Cardinals - could be getting third and/or fourth round comp picks for the losses of Calais Campbell (the biggest free agent of 2017) and Tony Jefferson, however. The Dallas Cowboys (Ronald Leary, Barry Church, Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne) and Green Bay Packers (T.J. Lang, Micah Hyde, J.C. Tretter, Jared Cook) could also find themselves with significantly more draft capital soon.

The highest round that comp picks are given out is the third, starting after the final official pick of the round, currently held at 96 by the Bills. (The Bills acquired the Philadelphia Eagles third round pick in the Ronald Darby-Jordan Matthews trade.)

These are the picks the Seahawks currently hold:

1:18

4:20 (currently 116th, but pushed down another potential 4-8 spots after comp picks)

5:4 (from Texans in Duane Brown trade)

5:9* (from Raiders in Marshawn Lynch trade)

5:19*?

5:31 (from Patriots, in Cassius Marsh trade)

7:8 (from Jets, in Jermaine Kearse trade)

7:17

7:30 (from Vikings, in Tramaine Brock trade)

7:32** (from Patriots in Marsh trades)

Notes:

*The Seahawks traded a fifth round pick to the Eagles in the Matt Tobin trade, getting back a seventh rounder, but it is unconfirmed which fifth round pick that is — either Seattle’s own pick or the one they got from the Raiders for Marshawn Lynch. So they either have the 9th or 19th pick in the fifth round, but not both

**The Seahawks acquired Philly’s seventh in that deal, then sent it to the Patriots for Justin Coleman, then got it back in the Marsh deal

In total, that gives Seattle one pick on day one, zero picks on day two, and eight picks on day three, including three in the fifth and four in the seventh. The Seahawks may move back in the first round (multiple times perhaps) to acquire more day two and day three picks. They may also choose to pile day three picks and 2019 picks to move up into day two again. However one thing is almost for certain: They won’t be getting any picks from the league this time around.

That likely won’t be the case next year, as Jimmy Graham, Sheldon Richardson, and Paul Richardson could leave and guarantee the team more early comp picks in return, while Bradley McDougald, Luke Joeckel, and Byron Maxwell could also be worth enough to do so if they leave.