Jets in line to receive multiple seventh round compensatory picks in 2024 NFL Draft

The Jets could add picks after losing more than they gained in free agency last year.

Every year the NFL hands out 32 bonus Draft picks coming at the end of rounds 3 through 7. These are called compensatory picks and go to teams that lost more than they gained in free agency the previous offseason.

The website Over the Cap has reverse engineered the formula to determine compensatory picks through the years and released its projection for the 2024 NFL Draft.

That projection has the Jets netting three additional seventh round Draft picks. One would compensate the team for the loss of Nate Herbig last year to the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency. One would compensate the team for the loss of Mike White to the Miami Dolphins. The final one would compensate the team for the loss of Dan Feeney to the Miami Dolphins (and later the Chicago Bears).

The Jets were also in position to get a fifth round pick for the loss of Sheldon Rankins to the Houston Texans and a sixth round pick for the loss of Nathan Shepherd to the New Orleans Saints. These picks were cancelled, however, by the signings of Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman respectively. The Jets did recoup the lost sixth round pick by trading Hardman to Kansas City at the expense of a seventh round pick.

There is a caveat to the projection. The pick for Feeney is projected to be the last compensatory selection awarded, the Mr. Irrelevant pick. Over the Cap warns that the formula results in a tight race for that pick between Feeney and the Jaguars for the loss of Chris Manhertz. While OTC projects the Jets will come out slightly ahead, they are not 100 percent confident in the projection.

The Jets enter the NFL Draft down two selections. Their second round pick is going to Green Bay to complete the Aaron Rodgers trade. Their seventh round pick went to Baltimore for Chuck Clark last year. We can confidently say the Jets will replace the lost Clark pick with these selections. They will not come close to replacing the value lost for Rodgers, but every additional pick is an asset.