2019 NFL draft: The Patriots’ compensatory picks are worth the equivalent of a second-round selection

On Friday, the NFL announced its compensatory selections for the 2019 draft and the New England Patriots were awarded four extra picks — one of four teams to get the maximum of selections handed out by the league for players lost through free agency the previous year. In the Patriots’ case, the following capital was added to the eight selections the team already held heading into the offseason:

3rd round: #97 (OT Nate Solder)

3rd round: #101 (CB Malcolm Butler)

6th round: #205 (WR Danny Amendola)

7th round: #252 (OT Cameron Fleming)

The quantity of the picks awarded is not the only positive from New England’s point of view: the team also received the highest amount of value through the NFL’s compensation process. Using the draft value chart made by Pats Pulpit’s own Rich Hill, we see that the cumulative value of the four picks reaches 78.48 points — right in between the value of the 64th (79.69) and 65th (77.95) selections in the draft, on the cusp of the second and third rounds.

When looking at the picks through the lens of the value chart created by Football Perspective’s Chase Stuart, their combined worth moves up even further. Using those calculations — based on Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value statistic — the Patriots were handed a total value of 11.41 points, roughly the same as the 38th overall selection in the draft and higher than any other teams’ haul:

As the spreadsheet shared by Big Blue View’s Dan Pizzuta illustrates, New England losing the four players mentioned above resulted in the team getting more in return than any other club. Considering that the Patriots still won the Super Bowl despite parting ways with them and are now getting outstanding return value, it is safe to say that the rich are getting richer — and that Bill Belichick and company keep playing the compensation game as well as any front office in pro football.