San Francisco 49ers are awarded a league-high seven compensatory draft picks
The San Francisco 49ers receive a league-high SEVEN compensatory draft picks, resulting in a total of 11 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft
The San Francisco 49ers added a league-high seven compensatory picks in next month’s NFL draft, giving them 11 overall picks.
The NFL awarded 37 compensatory picks to 16 teams Thursday for the upcoming draft April 27-29 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Picks are awarded to teams in the third through seventh rounds with 32 of the picks based on teams losing more or better free agents than they acquired last offseason and the other five are awarded to minorities hired as head coaches or general managers for other organizations.
The 49ers got three of those five diversity picks late in the third round as rewards for developing Robert Saleh, Martin Mayhew, Mike McDaniel, Ran Carthon and DeMeco Ryans over the last three hiring cycles.
Cleveland and Kansas City got the other two GM diversity picks from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Ryan Poles.
The Super Bowl champion Chiefs also earned two picks through the free agency formula to give them three compensation picks in total.
Niners general manager John Lynch will be delighted that his team has landed seven compensatory draft picks.
The 49ers were rewarded for developing coaches Robert Saleh and the DeMeco Ryans, among others.
San Francisco earned the most of four picks awarded through the free agency formula, with those picks coming in the fifth and sixth rounds, as well as two in the seventh.
The Niners converted a compensatory seventh-round pick last year on quarterback Brock Purdy, who helped San Francisco reach the NFC title game by winning his first seven starts as a rookie.
San Francisco won’t make its first pick until No. 99 near the end of the third round after giving away its first round pick to Trey Lance and the second and third round picks to Christian McCaffrey.
The Rams added four compensatory picks via free agency, with Arizona and Dallas getting three; Green Bay, Las Vegas, New England, Tampa Bay, Washington and the Giants each got two, Minnesota and New Orleans each got one.
Arizona and Washington earned the only third-round picks based on free agency, with the Cards adding the 96th pick after losing receiver Christian Kirk, and Washington getting the 97th pick after losing guard Brandon Scherff.
Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time, and postseason honors. Not all free agents lost to or signed by a club are covered by this formula.
Chicago and Houston earned supplemental picks as the bottom two picks in the draft because only 30 picks were awarded via the free agency formula.