Packers net two 4th-round compensatory picks
The Green Bay Packers have received two fourth-round compensatory picks in this year’s NFL draft after losing cornerbacks Davon House and Tramon Williams in free agency a year ago, the NFL announced Friday.
The NFL distributed 33 picks to 13 teams based on their net loss in free agency. Packers general manager Ted Thompson has nine draft picks for the 2016 NFL draft with the additional pair of fourth-rounders, which will be 131st and 137th overall.
They haven’t signed any unrestricted free agents since March 2012, so they received the full compensation for losing House (four years, $24.5 million) to Jacksonville and Williams (three years, $21 million) to Cleveland.
According to the NFL, the compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula. That's why the Packers didn't receive any compensation for inside linebacker Jamari Lattimore, who left for the New York Jets as an unrestricted free agent last year.
House, who received $10 million guaranteed from the Jaguars, posted career highs in tackles (60) and interceptions (four) in 16 games (15 starts) this past season. Coincidentally, the Packers received the same compensatory pick (131st overall) that they used to draft House in the fourth round in 2011. Williams, who also received $10 million in guarantees, had 69 tackles with one interception in 15 games with the Browns.
The Packers are tied for the second-most compensatory picks (37) since the process began in 1994. Fifteen of those have come since Thompson was hired as general manager in 2005. His crown jewels that have come out of compensatory picks have been three-time Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton and defensive lineman Mike Daniels, who agreed to a four-year, $41 million extension in December.
The Packers' nine draft choices are: First round (27th overall), second round (57), third round (88), fourth round (125, 131, 137), fifth round (163), sixth round (200) and seventh round (248).
The rule change approved by clubs in 2015 to allow trading of compensatory draft picks won't begin until 2017, so the Packers are locked into drafting players at Nos. 131 and 137. The NFL draft takes place April 28-30 in Chicago.
Kowalski back: The Packers also re-signed offensive lineman Vince Kowalski, who went to training camp with the team last summer before being released in the cut to 75 players. Kowalski (6-4, 305) started all 48 games in his four-year career at Villanova, earning first-team all-Colonial Athletic Association honors as a senior in 2014.
Thompson's compensatory selections
2015: DL Christian Ringo (sixth round, 210), TE Kennard Backman (sixth, 213)
2014: TE Richard Rodgers (third, 98), WR Jared Abbrederis (fifth, 176)
2013: DL Josh Boyd (fifth, 167)
2012: DT Mike Daniels (fourth, 132), S Jerron McMillian (fourth, 133), OL Andrew Datko (seventh, 241), QB B.J. Coleman (seventh, 243)
2011: CB Davon House (fourth, 131)
2010: OL Marshall Newhouse (fifth, 169)
2008: G Josh Sitton (fourth, 135)
2007: TE Clark Harris (seventh, 243)
2006: T Tony Moll (fifth, 165), DE Dave Tollefson (seventh, 253)