Arizona Cardinals nab 3 compensatory draft picks in latest projection
Jan 31, 2022, 12:51 PM
General manager Steve Keim of the Arizona Cardinals looks on prior to the game against the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium on October 10, 2021 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals are trending toward receiving three compensatory draft picks, according to OverTheCap.com’s latest projections.
OverTheCap.com’s Nick Korte projects Arizona to be awarded a sixth-rounder (No. 399) for Kenyan Drake’s two-year, $11 million signing with Las Vegas. Tight end Dan Arnold’s two-year deal with the Carolina Panthers worth $6 million and defensive end Angelo Blackson’s two-year contract with the Chicago Bears for $5.5 million nets the Cardinals two seventh-round picks (No. 575 and No. 589).
While the NFL won’t officially release the compensatory picks until March, OverTheCap.com uses a formula that projects awarded picks based on the net unrestricted free agent losses from a yearly dollars and cents standpoint for each of the 32 teams at the start of each season.
If departing players aren’t canceled out money-wise by new signings, then that team will be awarded additional picks anywhere from the third to seventh rounds depending on value. Teams cannot receive more than four compensatory picks.
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In the Cardinals’ case, they lost five well-paid unrestricted free agents in the form of cornerback Patrick Peterson, linebacker Haason Reddick, Drake, Arnold and Blackson to free agency.
They gained two back, however, in wide receiver A.J. Green and kicker Matt Prater. Green’s one-year deal worth $6.5 million cancels out the team’s projected fifth-rounder for Peterson’s one-year, $8 million contract signed with the Minnesota Vikings.
Prater’s yearly average of $3.3 million cancels out a sixth-round pick for Reddick’s one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers worth $6 million.
Aside from the projected compensatory selections, the Cardinals have a pick in the first, second, third, sixth and seventh rounds of the upcoming NFL Draft.
Arizona shipped off their fourth-rounder as part of a trade package with the Baltimore Ravens during the 2021 NFL Draft to move up and select cornerback Marco Wilson, who turned out to be a starter in the secondary this season.
The Cardinals also sent a fifth-round selection in a trade package to the Philadelphia Eagles in return for tight end Zach Ertz during the season.
