The 1994 offseason was seismic for the NFL. It brought many significant alterations to the league’s landscape that have helped shape the game we know today. Moving the draft to seven rounds was one of these major changes. After being as long as 17 rounds when the league started the draft, it dwindled to seven in 1994 and has remained that way ever since.
They also implemented the salary cap, which undoubtedly has the most significant reverberations. The NFL was the first professional sports league to implement a salary cap, and it helped maintain a competitive balance. They set the first salary cap at $34.6 million, a number that will increase to $279.2 million in 2025.
The league had also implemented free agency a year earlier, on March 1, 1993. To help balance competition with the invention of free agency and the salary cap, the league introduced compensatory picks, or “comp picks,” to award to teams when they lose key players in free agency.
One of the greatest draft picks of all time was famously a compensatory pick in 1999: Tom Brady. Perhaps you have heard of him.
The formula used to award compensatory draft picks, developed by the NFL’s management council, had never been publicly revealed until the passage of the 2020 collective agreement. The simplest breakdown of this formula is that the league adds up the value of compensatory free agents gained or lost by each team and then rewards each team pick of equal value to the net loss of compensatory free agents. The total number of picks the league can award a team in one offseason is four, and the league only distributes 32 among all teams.
Few teams have taken advantage of the compensatory picks like the Green Bay Packers, who were awarded their 52nd comp pick this offseason since the start of the program in 1994. The league gave them a comp pick because offensive lineman Yosh Nijman signed with the Carolina Panthers as a free agent last year.
Green Bay’s 52 comp picks rank third all-time behind only the Baltimore Ravens (56) and the Dallas Cowboys (54).
Comp picks have been a foundation of their team-building philosophy since the Ron Wolf days. Some of the most notable players they have drafted with those picks — Marco Rivera in 1996, Josh Sitton in 2008, Aaron Jones in 2017, and Zach Tom in 2022 — are three of the most impactful and have all been significant contributors.
Green Bay typically doesn’t use free agency in team-building, which allows them to accrue comp picks. The more players they signed to bigger deals, the fewer comp picks they get to add to their haul. Still, given their success with comp picks, the Packers should deviate from that philosophy this year and spend without fear of losing out on extra picks.
For starters, no team in the league loses fewer players in free agency than the Packers. They currently have 46 players under contract for 2025. Outside of linebacker, they could play a football game right now in early March. The Packers had the NFL’s youngest roster in the past two years and don’t need to add youth. They have seven picks in the upcoming draft. They could work the phones to trade for an extra pick or two if they need to add more.
Green Bay doesn’t need to focus on adding another middle- to late-round prospect. That doesn’t move the needle too much for the Packers. They have most of their young core locked up on contracts for multiple seasons, outside of Tom, who they will likely extend soon.
Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson will be free agents after this season. However, the Packers can’t replace them with a middle- or late-round comp pick player. They should focus on adding blue-chip talent to help them win now. As Brian Gutekunst said, “It’s time to ramp up the urgency and start competing for championships.”
Green Bay’s potential free agents are also a consideration in this process. Josh Myers, T.J. Slaton, and Brandon McManus are the three most notable who might sign a contract big enough to warrant a comp pick. Gutekunst spoke glowingly about Meyers and McManus at his end-of-season press conference. When a reporter asked if he wanted them back, he said, “Yeah, we would love to.”
If I were a betting man, I would wager that Green Bay would bring them back.
Slaton is the last one. While he offers little as a pass rusher, he was a big reason why Green Bay finished fifth against the run in 2024. He’s also the only defender to play every game in the last four seasons since the Packers drafted him, meaning he’s played 68 consecutive games. Slaton might command a big enough deal to warrant a comp pick, but now might not be the time to mess with defensive success, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see him come back.
Green Bay needs to be aggressive this offseason to upgrade their roster. With teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, and Washington Commanders improving, this isn’t the time to focus on luxuries such as comp picks instead of needs like high-end, blue-chip free agents.
