Bills expected third-round comp pick in draft, but received a fourth. The GM isn't happy.
ORLANDO - Brandon Beane was as surprised as anyone about the decision by the NFL to give the Buffalo Bills a fourth-round compensatory pick in the upcoming draft, rather than a third-rounder which had long been the expectation.
Sunday, as the NFL owners’ meetings kicked off at the posh Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes, Beane met with local reporters for 25 minutes and covered several things that have taken place since he last did this at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and front and center was the surprising reduction in the pick the Bills received for losing linebacker Tremaine Edmunds in free agency last year.
“It did surprise me. I think us and San Francisco, we got a raw deal,” Beane said, adding the 49ers received a lesser comp pick as well. “I don’t want to give a full thing, but we had separate Zooms with the league trying to go through how it was calculated because by even their accounts, as we were checking with them through the year, we clearly had a third-rounder. It was a major blow because we had planned for it and San Fran felt the same way.”
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How does the NFL decide which round compensatory picks are assigned?
Figuring out quantum physics is less laborious than understanding the comp pick formula but the gist of it is this: Teams are awarded extra draft picks based on their net loss or gain in free agency the previous season. The picks come in the final five rounds, none higher than the third and are determined based on salary, playing time, and postseason honors.
It’s uncertain what cost the Bills 33 spots in the draft, but that’s pretty valuable draft real estate and despite Beane’s effort to appeal the decision, the NFL did not reverse course.
“We we found out when all you guys found out,” Beane said. “We did our best and they said, ‘No deal.’”
Buffalo Bills draft picks 2024
Thus, the Bills will have only two picks in the first 128 which is not ideal. They have their own first-rounder (No. 28) and second-rounder (No. 60), but they don’t have a third-round pick because theirs went to Green Bay in the trade last November for cornerback Rasul Douglas.
When Beane made that deal, he was assuming he’d get the pick back as a comp. It’s hard to know whether he would have balked at trading his own third if he had known the comp pick wouldn’t come until the fourth round.
After No. 60, the Bills don’t pick until No. 128 in the fourth round, and then they come right back in the fourth at No. 133. They have three fifth-rounders - No. 144 (from the Bears), No. 160 (from the Packers in the Douglas trade), and their own at 163.
They also have three picks in the sixth - No. 189 (from the Broncos through the Rams), 200 (from the Cowboys through the Texans), and 204, and then one pick in the seventh round at 248.
Beane said he believes the NFL is going to tweak the formula this coming year, but “it’s not going to help us or San Francisco” this year. Based on what has happened thus far in free agency, the Bills are likely to get at least one comp pick, and it may end up being two, though it’s too early to determine the rounds.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out each Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills draft picks 2024: Expected comp in third moves to fourth
