© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
On Tuesday, the NFL announced compensatory draft picks for its 32 teams, which reward organizations either for losses of high-value players in free agency or for diverse hiring practices.
The 49ers were one of the major beneficiaries, receiving five of the 39 picks the league doled out. That tied the Rams for the most in the NFL.
There is a formula the league uses to decide what picks a team is given that comes down, mainly, to whether you brought in more key free agents than you lost. The 49ers lost C.J. Beathard, Kendrick Bourne, Kerry Hyder and Ahkello Witherspoon and signed Alex Mack and Samson Ebukam.
Solomon Thomas’ departure to the Raiders was expected to be included in that calculus, but was not mentioned by the league, which may simply be an error on their part. It appears to have been calculated in the pick total, just not officially listed by name.
San Francisco netted three traditional compensatory picks, plus two third-round special compensatory pick for the departure of minority-developed coaches and executives in Jets HC Robert Saleh and Washington GM Martin Mayhew last year, and Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel this year.
That third-round pick for Mayhew and Saleh will be conveyed to the Dolphins — perhaps ironically, now that McDaniel is there and basically replaced that pick for the 49ers — as part of the trade for San Francisco to move up to No. 3 overall last draft and select Trey Lance.
In sum, that netted the 49ers a third-round pick (105 overall), two sixth-round picks (220 and 221 overall) and a seventh-round pick (262 overall).
That is more than expected. OverTheCap.com projected the 49ers to receive three seventh-round picks, but two of those, it turns out, will come at the end of the sixth round. It also means the 49ers have the honor of selecting Mr. Irrelevant, the final pick of the NFL Draft.
As it stands, the 49ers will have nine picks, with the following order:
- Round 2, Pick 61
- Round 3, Pick 93
- Round 3, Pick 105 (compensatory pick for McDaniel)
- Round 4, Pick 134
- Round 5, Overall Pick 172
- Round 6, Overall Pick 187 (from Broncos for LB Jonas Griffith)
- Round 6, Pick 220 (compensatory pick)
- Round 6, Pick 221 (compensatory pick)
- Round 7, Pick 262 (compensatory pick)
It is yet unclear what, if anything, they can get in return for Jimmy Garoppolo, but even without that, the 49ers at least have a sizable amount of draft capital in 2022.