Most of you know that the Lions don't have a 4th round pick (draft day trade) or a 7th (signing Kosier as a RFA). It might even be worse because of the Jon McGraw trade, but that was conditional, so I don't know the specifics. That leaves them with 4 or 5 picks, right? Wrong! This is where the comp picks come into play. Let me explain.

Compensatory picks are awarded by the NFL to teams that lost more UFAs than they gained. This formula does not apply to players that were released. Therefore, Jeff Garcia, Marcus Pollard, Rick DeMulling, Kevin Johnson, R.W. McQuarters, Az Hakim, Brian Walker, and Brock Marion don't count in the equation. This means that the Lions lost Mike McMahon, Stockar McDougle, Stephen Alexander, and Reggie Swinton to free agency but only gained Kenoy Kennedy. That means three comp picks for the 2006 draft. I hope I didn't miss anybody for which this applies.

I don't think anybody understands the formula that the NFL uses to determine which rounds those picks will be in, but it is based upon their salary, playing time, and production. I've attempted to figure it out, but have had no luck in doing so. McDougle has been a bust so he might only net a 7th, but Swinton and Alexander have contributed, so they might be worth 6th rounders. McMahon is the wildcard. If he starts the remaining games for the Eagles, the Lions could get a 4th out of him. I never thought that I would say this, but "GO MIKE!". I have no idea which pick they would eliminate for the signing of Kennedy. Unfortunately, it would probably be the highest one.

Good info Sly! That is very interesting. I hope that McMahon plays himself into a 4th rounder for us, although I am thinking this would be the pick we would have to give up for KK. That would be just our luck.

Good post Sly. Few fans do understand how these picks work. I wrote an article in April "What's the Deal with Compensatory Draft Picks?" to help explain if anyone is interested:

http://www.lionbacker.com/?id=articles& ... mpensatory

It goes into some detail on how they are awarded (Sly's version is more to the point, what teams were awarded in 2005 (and what 2004 FAs determined those picks), and the teams that have been awarded the most since 1993 (the Lions 11 picks tie them for 14th)

Just some notes. The Lions lost their seventh round in the 2005 draft for signing Kyle Kosier. In the 2006 draft they will likely lose their seventh rounder for Jon McGraw. That will leave them with all their first day picks, and their fifth and sixth round picks on day two. The fourth rounder from 2006 was traded to New England for their fifth and sixth rounders last year. With those picks we took Dan Orlovsky and Jonathon Goddard. Our original fifth rounder in 2005 was traded away to KC as part of the deal in 2004 to move up and get Kevin Jones. We traded our second and fourth rounders last year to move up and get Shaun Cody. Our original sixth round pick in 2005 was used on Bill Swancutt.

My bad. m2karateman is correct. The Lions lost their 7th rounder last year for Kyle Kosier and it's supposed to be a 7th this year for Jon McGraw, but I don't know what the conditions of the trade are.

keep in mind that mcgraw is startng now that holt is on IR, so we may give up more!

He can't do much worse than Terrence Holt!! That's for sure!!

yeah but the point is that may cost us more from a compensatory draft pick standpoint