NFL changes compensatory pick allotment, giving one to Saints and taking one from Dolphins

Someone at the league office forgot to check their work before announcing the compensatory picks for the 2025 NFL draft.

This year’s compensatory picks were announced on Tuesday, but today the NFL admitted that there was a mistake in that announcement: The Dolphins were wrongly awarded a seventh-round compensatory pick that should have gone to the Saints. Under the corrected order, the Browns and Chargers will also see their seventh-round compensatory picks moved down by one selection.

The NFL awards compensatory picks based on a complex formula based on the quality of free agents who are signed and lost by each team. This year the league made a mistake in awarding the Dolphins a seventh-round compensatory pick for losing Cedrick Wilson to the Saints in free agency. Via Nick Korte, the Dolphins had shortened Wilson’s contract, which made them ineligible to receive a compensatory pick for losing him, and means he doesn’t cancel out a compensatory pick for the Saints.

The compensatory pick formula is complex enough that the league often makes mistakes that need to be corrected. The league doesn’t publish everything that goes into the formula, so it’s hard for anyone else to check the league’s work.

Here’s the corrected compensatory pick order: