Which Teams Gained Most from NFL-Awarded Compensatory Picks?

It's found-money day in the NFL.

The close of business at Monday's owners meetings in Phoenix involved the awarding of compensatory picks, given annually to teams who lost players to free agency the year before.

The picks range anywhere from the third round to the seventh, with teams eligible for a maximum of four selections.

Most of those picks will fall on the third day of the 2015 NFL draft, but lest you think these late picks have no value, consider this: In 2000, the New England Patriots used a sixth-round compensatory pick to select Tom Brady.

It's not realistic to expect that sort of jackpot in 2015, but the following NFL teams have to be pretty happy with how things turned out Monday.

For argument's sake, we've assigned a sliding scale to each pick. A third-round pick would be worth five points, while a seventh-round pick nets one.

Of course, teams still have to draft the right players, but hey—one thing at a time.

And in case you were wondering, while the Pats did receive a third-round pick in return for watching cornerback Aqib Talib sign with Denver (No. 97 overall, the highest compensatory pick), they didn't quite make this list.

5. Denver Broncos (8 Points)

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Picks Received: fourth round (No. 133), sixth round (No. 208), seventh round (No. 250), seventh round (No. 251)

Players Lost: Robert Ayers, Zane Beadles, Eric Decker, Jeremy Mincey, Knowshon Moreno, Shaun Phillips, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Wesley Woodyard

Players Gained: Emmanuel Sanders, Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward

You're going to notice a theme with this article. The rich getting richer.

Of the five teams included here, four made the playoffs last year. That includes the Denver Broncos, who received the maximum four compensatory picks.

Granted, two of those four picks are at the back end of the draft, but all in all, it's pretty hard to view this as less than a major score for the Broncos.

Yes, the Broncos lost far more players than they gained in 2014, but take a good look at the list. Would you give up any of the players on the bottom for those on the top?

Me neither.

Let's just hope that the Broncos make better use of these compensatory picks than back in 2005.

That year, the team used a third-round compensatory pick to select a running back.

Maurice Clarett.

4. Cincinnati Bengals (9 Points)

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Picks Received: third round (No. 99), fourth round (No. 135)

Players Lost: Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins

Players Gained: None

The Cincinnati Bengals may not have gotten the most compensatory draft picks or the most "points" in our little exercise. But, no team in the NFL gamed this system this year quite like Mike Brown did.

Last year, the Bengals balked at giving defensive end Michael Johnson a fat contract extension. Johnson chased the money to Tampa Bay, signing a five year, $44 million contract with the Buccaneers.

Johnson then proceeded to have such an injury-marred mess of a 2014 campaign that the Bucs cut the 28-year-old one year into the deal.

At which point the Bengals brought Johnson back to Cincinnati for four years at approximately the same amount the Bucs just handed Johnson in guarantees for one.

Oh, and now they get a compensatory pick to go along with it.

People give Brown and the Bengals flak for being cheap, but give credit where it's due—the team had its cake and ate it, too, with that one.

Oh, and the Buccaneers also signed Collins. And cut him after one season.

He's not back in Cincy yet, because that would just be rubbing it in.

3. Baltimore Ravens (10 Points)

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Picks Received: fourth round (No. 136), fifth round (No. 171), fifth round (No. 175)

Players Lost: Ed Dickson, Corey Graham, James Ihedigbo, Arthur Jones, Michael Oher

Players Gained: Darian Stewart

As we waited on the announcement of this year's compensatory picks, Bleacher Report NFL national lead writer Mike Tanier remarked on what's become an annual rite of passage in Baltimore.

"Have compensatory picks been announced yet?" Tanier quipped. "Ozzie Newsome wants to come downstairs and empty his stocking by the fireplace."

Well, Newsome's stocking was full yet again.

It's as regular as tax time. Free agency rolls around, Newsome digs in, loses players chasing greener pastures and then brings in a haul of compensatory picks.

The three picks the Ravens were awarded Monday (all in the draft's first five rounds) give the team 44 total since the NFL began the procedure in 1994. According to Chris Wesseling of NFL.com, that's a full nine more than the next-closest team on the list.

And Newsome will need those picks in 2015. It was another season of goodbyes for the Ravens, with stalwarts such as defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and wide receiver Torrey Smith leaving in the past month.

2. Seattle Seahawks (11 Points)

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Picks Received: fourth round (No. 134), fifth round (No. 170) sixth round (No. 209), sixth round (No. 214)

Players Lost: Brandon Browner, Breno Giacomini, Chris Maragos, Clinton McDonald, Paul McQuistan, Golden Tate, Walter Thurmond

Players Gained: none

Seattle general manager John Schneider has been as savvy as any NFL executive in recent years, assembling a Seahawks squad that's advanced to back-to-back Super Bowls.

Still, as young core players such as cornerback Richard Sherman and free safety Earl Thomas hit free agency, their extensions have forced the Seahawks to make some tough decisions.

That's led to a steady parade of complementary players out the door. Seven last year in total.

Schneider can at least take some solace in the four compensatory picks the Seahawks were awarded in 2015. If Schneider continues to hit on draft picks with the regularity he has in past seasons, at least one of these young players will likely emerge as a significant contributor for the Seahawks in relatively short order.

Not that that's going to make him feel any better about this.

1. Kansas City Chiefs (13 Points)

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Picks Received: third round (No. 98), fifth round (No. 172) fifth round (No. 173), sixth round (No. 217)

Players Lost: Branden Albert, Jon Asamoah, Quintin Demps, Tyson Jackson, Akeem Jordan, Kendrick Lewis, Dexter McCluster, Geoff Schwartz

Players Gained: Joe Mays, Vance Walker

Where compensatory picks are concerned in 2015, the clear "winners" are the Kansas City Chiefs. Not only did the Chiefs receive the maximum four picks allowed, but the Chiefs were also one of three teams who received a third-round pick that falls within the top 100 overall.

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt told Terez Paylor of The Kansas City Star that general manager John Dorsey is looking forward to those extra picks after the team was hit hard in free agency last year:

"

He’s been excited about it for about a year. Certainly a year ago, when we lost some players that were an important part of the franchise, that’s always a bitter pill to swallow. But you do look forward to, a year down the road, getting those compensatory picks.

John, like most GMs and certainly like I believe philosophically, likes building the team through the draft. So when you have those extra picks, it sure makes it easier.

"

The last time the Chiefs had this many picks in an NFL draft? 2008, a draft class that included running back Jamaal Charles, cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers and offensive tackle Branden Albert.

All four were big contributors for the Chiefs at one time or another, but only Charles remains on the team.

Which is how you wind up racking up those compensatory picks to begin with.