Time will tell whether the Patriots were right to re-sign so many of their internal free agents this offseason. But we already know one way in which those decisions will hurt Bill Belichick and company.
Barring something unforeseen, New England isn’t expected to receive any compensatory draft picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, according to new projections from both the NFL and Over The Cap. The Patriots held two comp picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, with one rewarded for the departure of J.C. Jackson and the other for Ted Karras.
Teams are rewarded comp picks if they lose more qualified free agents than they gain. So, because the Patriots signed JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mike Gesicki, Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff but lost just Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor, they won’t receive any Rounds 3-7 comp picks for next year.
New England received comp picks in every draft from 2014 through 2021. But that streak ended in 2022 and, with Monday’s news, the Patriots will go without comp picks in two out of three years.
Currently, the Patriots are projected to make eight picks in the 2024 draft, including a sixth-round pick gained via last September’s Justin Herron trade and a seventh-rounder gained via last summer’s N’Keal Harry trade.
