Patriots Receive Surprising Number Of Comp Picks In 2021 NFL Draft

The NFL made announcement on the 2021 compensatory draft picks Wednesday. Believe it or not, the New England Patriots received a lot of compensatory picks for the 2021 draft.

New England got a total of two picks in the draft. They get one at the end of the third round which is 96^th overall and it’s the highest selection possible. Their second pick is at the end of the fourth round which is No. 140 overall.

Patriots get a lot of picks in the 2021 NFL Draft

Comp picks are selected through a complex formula. It calculates each NFL team’s free agent loss and addition from the previous offseason. New England was set to get three after losing veteran quarterback Tom Brady and linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins to a different team. Well, they only got two.

The league has classified five outgoing Patriots free agents. Brady, Van Noy, Collins, Danny Shelton, and Ted Karras are on this list. The Patriots added three compensatory free agents: Beau Allen, Damiere Byrd, and Adrian Phillips.

A look at the 2021 @NFL Draft compensatory selections pic.twitter.com/PMhApYhe6D

— Michael Signora (@NFLfootballinfo) March 10, 2021

Nate Ebner and Elandon Roberts don’t qualify for compensatory status. The NFL determines this status through “a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors.”

Here are the last five players selected at picks No. 96 and 140:

No. 96
OT Lucas Niang
TE Dawson Knox
DT Harrison Phillips
WR Kenny Golladay
DT Vincent Valentine

No. 140
LB Shaquille Quarterman
RB Ryquell Armstead
DT Maurice Hurst
RB Wayne Gallman
WR Tajae Sharpe

These compensatory additions give New England a total of nine picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. They have one first, one second, one third, two fourths, one fifth, two sixths and one seventh.

Damiere Byrd counted against the Patriots as a CFA signed, but Elandon Roberts and Nate Ebner did not count as CFAs lost.

So that gave the formula no choice but for Byrd's signing to cancel out a 4th rounder.

I got something really wrong there, apologies to Patriots followers. pic.twitter.com/gyMSplxvJo

— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) March 10, 2021

The 2021 NFL Draft will begin Thursday, April 29. New England will probably make a few big moves in order to address some of the issues they had in 2020. Head coach Bill Belichick missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. He won’t go through the same treatment again. Belichick created a dynasty and he is giving his best to keep it alive. Let’s see how will the offseason end for the team.