When the league announced the distribution of compensatory picks for the 2023 offseason, there were a large number of Cincinnati fans who were absolutely livid. While teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams cleaned house with extra draft picks, Cincinnati was only awarded two sixth round selections. Many fans were confused and clamored that there was certainly something wrong.
Cincinnati Bengals Receive Extra Draft Pick After League Corrects Mistake
On Monday night, the NFL officially corrected an error and swapped out one of the sixth-round compensatory picks for a third-round pick after Cincinnati fans called foul. After all, Cincinnati lost a long list of players last offseason and in reality gained very little. After the reallocation, Cincinnati now holds the 97th and 214th overall picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.
As a summary, the compensatory picks are designed to alleviate the pain of teams that lose more than they gain during the free agency window. In a league that is obsessed with parity, the concept of compensatory picks almost act as the ballast of the free agency system that allows for financial fair play within the NFL. While the league believes in fairness, they don’t want to see a constant revolving door of players with teams going from first to last and vice versa every single year.
Last season, Cincinnati lost two elite safeties (Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell), a starting cornerback (Eli Apple), a starting tight end (Hayden Hurst) and a backup running back (Samaje Perine). In return, Cincinnati brought in an overage left tackle (Orlando Brown Jr.) and two disasters who lost their starting spots within weeks (safety Nick Scott and tight end Irv Smith Jr.) The reason that the picks are awarded the following season is to allow for teams to factor in players that play above or below their anticipated quality.
After Brown was the only player to even make the lineup for the majority of the season, Cincinnati clearly lost dramatically more than it gained last season. After being awarded only two picks, there was some genuine concern about the NFL once again trying to drive down one of its smaller market franchises so that more popular teams would remain successful. That certainly happened in the playoffs last season after the historic canceled game between Buffalo and Cincinnati due to Damar Hamlin when the playoff seeding was determined by a coin toss.
It’s important to remember that at the time of the injury, Cincinnati had taken the lead over Buffalo and prior to that game, had the opportunity to take over the number one seed. After that game, the team was completely locked in at number three. Fans were furious after they fundamentally lost a home game that (as I’m constantly told by my family) costs quite a sum of money.
While some people may say that compensatory picks aren’t significantly, the difference between a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick is profound. A third-round pick is almost a lock to make the roster and at least contribute as a backup while most sixth-round picks end up on the practice squad. While it never should have come to this correction, the awarding of the third-round pick will completely alter Cincinnati’s draft strategy this April.
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