The science on exactly how the National Football League arrives at its annual list of compensatory picks is inexact—or at least unknown. Every year, teams are given a list of picks to be made after each round—beginning in the third round—based on the quality and quantity of free agents lost from the previous year. Yet how exactly the league decides who receives what compensatory pick remains hidden.
There are, however, great attempts made at guessing how the NFL will judge the free agent losses and production from the previous year and we can largely gauge how teams will fare based on this list.