The Patriots, unsurprisingly, are the biggest winners from the 2020 NFL Draft’s compensatory picks

New England got four picks, but wasn’t the only team to come away with a haul.

Mar 10, 2020, 9:53 PM UTC

Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The 2020 NFL Draft order is officially set. The big winner from this year’s spread of compensatory picks? As usual, the New England Patriots.

The NFL awarded its annual spread of compensatory picks, doling out bonus selections to teams negatively affected by free agency last spring. Bill Belichick’s team was given the maximum of four compensatory picks — two at the end of the third round and two at the end of the sixth — after losing players like Trent Brown, Trey Flowers, Malcom Brown, and Cordarrelle Patterson in free agency.

That’s more than any other team in the league. Despite dealing their second-round pick to the Falcons in a trade for Mohamed Sanu, the Patriots will have four of 2020’s top 100 selections.

These extra 32 picks finalized this year’s draft order, bringing the event up to 255 picks.

Who beside New England struck gold with compensatory picks?

The Giants. New York gets the opportunity to bookend the draft and take Mr. Irrelevant with the final selection. The Giants are one of six teams to earn three compensatory picks, joining the Eagles, Seahawks, Texans, Vikings, and Broncos. All deserve a spot in the “winners” column.
The Steelers, Texans, and Rams. These three teams are headed into 2020 without a first-round pick due to trades. Now, each earned an additional third-rounder that should help restock the cupboards for playoff hopefuls.
The Dolphins. Miami currently holds Pittsburgh and Houston’s Day 1 selections thanks to trades headlined by Minkah Fitzpatrick and Laremy Tunsil, respectively. The Dolphins’ current draft haul has been boosted to 14 total picks for 2020.

Every compensatory pick in the 2020 NFL Draft

Interested in how the compensatory selection process works? We’ve got an explainer for that. Here’s the full list of extra picks to be awarded in this year’s draft.