What Bears Can Expect in Compensatory Picks for 2025 Draft

With the draft in the rear-view mirror and any free agency defections after April 29 not counting in the mix, the compensatory picks for next year's draft can be estimated.

According to NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein, the Bears still have not reached a point with their roster where they are reaping in extra picks. The Bears will again get no compensatory picks. It's going to take some more good drafts to start receiving picks as compensation for departing free agents.

They received none in the recently completed draft, as well.

Then again, this is only a projection but it is one based on the facts of how the league has picked compensatory picks in the past.

For those who have been trying to figure out for years the exact way the league determines who gets what, Zierlein does as good a job as anyone has of laying it out.

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Of course, he's not giving out the exact formula used but the loss of free agents but teams receive the picks in Rounds 3-7 according to free agents lost basedon those players' average salary per year (APY), snap count and postseason awards. He adds that the final determination hasn't obviously been made because the play level of those who left can alter everything during the coming season.

Also, he's quick to point out the rule put into effect giving teams two third-round picks in successive years for any minority member who is hired as a head coach or GM with another team.Some

The Ravens and Cowboys are getting four comp picks, the Chargers, Dolphins and 49ers three each and the Bills, Browns, Chiefs, Raiders and Seahawks receive two picks.

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Some of the usual teams are at the top again and it all begs the question whether this system actually works for what it was intended to fix. What it seems is some teams have figured out how to game the system and the rich get richer as a result.

The 49ers still are collecting third-rounders for DeMeco Ryans and Ran Carthon leaving for jobs with Houston and Tennessee respectively.

Teams signing free agents will offset losses, so the Bears signing Keenan Allen, Gerald Everett and D'Andre Swift can be big negatives in their formula.

Of course, players traded like Justin Fields, or cut, like Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair, are not parts of this formula.