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Every offseason it seems that many fans of teams who lose big name, expensive free agents console themselves that the loss will yield the team a comp pick in the next season’s draft. Fans of the Seattle Seahawks are no different, and at no point in recent history was this a bigger topic than in the spring of 2018, when the Hawks cancelled out potential mid-round comp picks for the losses of Paul Richardson and Jimmy Graham with the signings of players like Jaron Brown and Ed Dickson.
Whether a fan believes that letting free agents leave is worth it in order to gain comp picks or not, the expert on the subject, Nick Korte of OverTheCap.com, anticipates the league announcing this year’s comp picks later this week. Specifically, his belief is that the announcement is likely to come on Friday.
Excellent breakdown by Joel on the dates you need to know for the NFL offseason in the coming weeks.
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) February 6, 2020
I'll also add that February 21 is when I expect the 2020 compensatory picks to be released. https://t.co/fYQVlWJC35
So, while Seahawks fans have already seen a busy start to the week, with the news of the team agreeing to a one-year contract with Greg Olsen, there should be more exciting news later this week as well. Korte currently projects Seattle to receive three comp picks in the draft this year for the players who departed in free agency last spring, but nothing is official until the league makes it official.
For those fans wondering how the team has fared with past comp picks the league has awarded, here’s a look at the players they have drafted over the past decade using comp picks:
- 2010: Jameson Konz
- 2011: Malcolm Smith
- 2013: Jared Smith and Michael Bowie
- 2015: Mark Glowinski, Tye Smith, Obum Gwacham and Kristjan Sokoli
- 2016: Rees Odhiambo, Alex Collins and Joey Hunt
- 2017: Nazair Jones and Amara Darboh
- 2019: Demarcus Christmas**
**Christmas was not chosen with a comp pick awarded to Seattle by the league. He was selected with a comp pick that had been awarded to the Minnesota Vikings and was then traded to the Seahawks when the Hawks moved up four spots to take Cody Barton in the third round.
Thus, for all the fans who fret the comp pick implications of every free agent arrival and departure, this is expected to be the week when the league makes things official.