After the Quenton Nelson trade, one of our commenters brought up that the Seahawks should only get a maximum of four compensatory picks, which is something I want to address and clarify! It’s a partially correct statement but with a caveat.
Free agency comp picks max out at four
Compensatory picks for free agents do have a limit. Next season, the Seahawks are slated to have comp picks for the following FA departures:
Dareke Young’s contract was too low to be classified as a compensatory free agent (CFA) and Seattle didn’t sign a single CFA free agent.
NFL rules limit the maximum number of compensatory picks awarded through free agency to four. That the Seahawks were a -4 in compensatory free agents lost is purely coincidence. Even if the Seahawks didn’t retain Rashid Shaheed and Josh Jobe and lost six CFAs while signing none, Seattle would’ve instead been awarded the four highest valued comp picks by round.
The Nolan Teasley comp pick is separate
Seattle’s fifth comp pick is a 2027 third-rounder for Nolan Teasley, who left the Seahawks assistant general manager role to become the Minnesota Vikings GM. Teasley is biracial—his father is black—and therefore he qualifies as a minority candidate hiring. Under the Rooney Rule, teams who lose a minority candidate to a head coach or general manager position—or, more accurately, a primary football executive—receive third-round compensatory picks over the next two drafts.
For the Seahawks, they will get third-rounders from the Teasley hire in the 2027 and 2028 drafts. Those picks are completely separate from the comp pick formula, so it is possible to have five compensatory picks in a single draft. In 2022, the San Francisco 49ers had five comp picks split into two minority candidate hires (the first of two third-rounders for Mike McDaniel, plus the second of two third-rounders for Robert Saleh) and three CFA formula picks.
Teasley’s third-rounder is set in stone, whereas the free agent comp picks will be settled into specific rounds at the end of the season.