Schefter: NFL Expected to Allow Trading Compensatory Draft Picks

When the Patriots decided not to exercise the second-year option of cornerback Darrelle Revis' contract after the 2014 season, it brought two things: the agony of those, who had no faith in Bill Belichick and the front office, and a projected compensatory draft pick in 2016.

Revis signed a 5-year, $70 million contract with the New York Jets (suspiciously) quickly after becoming a free agent, and the Patriots are projected to get a third-round pick as compensation. As things currently stand, this pick projects to be the 97th overall.

It is worth quite a lot and its value could increase even further if this recent tweet by Adam Schefter turns out to become the truth:

For first time this spring, NFL expected to allow teams to begin trading compensatory draft picks, per NFL sources. Should be more trades.

Compensatory picks, per rule, are not tradeable. However, the league apparently wants to change this system and each of the 32 awarded selections could be traded in the future. It will be interesting to see the dynamic play out in real life action, but as it stands right now, the change would be an intriguing one.

This holds particularly true considering the additional trade capital the Patriots will have at their disposal, as the team always valued compensatory selections highly. Due to the free agency losses of Revis, Vince Wilfork and Shane Vereen (among others), the Patriots are in line to be awarded at least three such draft picks next year.