Jets Added a Compensatory Pick in 2017 But Probably Won’t Get One in 2018

The Jets were awarded an extra third round Draft pick this year through the league’s compensatory pick system. The league awards additional Draft picks to teams that lost more than they gained in free agency the previous year. The third round pick came because the team lost Damon Harrison to the Giants last offseason.

Although the Jets have not been major players in free agency in 2017, they are unlikely to add another compensatory pick for the 2018 Draft. The reasoning is simple. If you don’t have any quality free agents in the first place, you can’t lose any.

According to Over the Cap’s current projection, the only free agent who could have turned into a compensatory pick was Geno Smith, whose contract with the Giants could have brought a lowly seventh round pick back. That pick is cancelled out by the Jets signing Morris Claiborne. Smith isn’t even a lock to make the Giants’ roster so there is no guarantee the Jets would have been looking at a pick anyway.

Even if another Jets free agent signs elsewhere, Kelvin Beachum’s signing would cancel out any pick they would receive for that player.

The fact of the matter is there was never much of a chance the Jets were going to get compensatory picks at the start of free agency. To get them, you need to have good free agents other teams want. The Jets didn’t.