Where there are comp picks there is success

Since their inception the Ravens have received more compensatory picks than any other club. Thirty-three to be exact!

Under the NFL’s secret formula for determining compensatory selections, the code of which has only been cracked by beautiful-minded numbers dudes formula, the NFL management council utilizes salary, playing time and postseason honors to assess whether or not teams are deserving of additional draft compensation. Simply put, NFL teams that lose more or supposedly superior free agents than they acquire are eligible to be given compensatory draft picks.

So what does it all mean? That the Ravens are too cheap to keep their good players?

Well that’s a matter of opinion but seeing how most lost free agents have performed at levels less than they did while a Raven, it’s safe to say that Ozzie Newsome has an eye for talent and understands when it’s time to replenish the losses vis-à-vis the draft. More importantly however, the fact that the Ravens have had more compensatory picks than any other team since 1996, suggests that other teams value the Ravens’ players and therefore their draft picks.

Now it goes to reason that bad teams want players from good teams (who have rosters deep in talent) so naturally the bad teams looking to be more competitive will go after the players who play on successful teams.

That’s common sense, right?

But how do good teams remain good when others are pilfering their rosters AND they aren’t signing free agents given the number of compensatory picks they’ve received.

Check out THIS CHART and for the most part you will find consistently successful teams at the top – teams that lose the most free agents yet remain successful. Teams like New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Green Bay and Philadelphia (and to some degree St. Louis who dominated in the early 2000’s) remain competitive.

But why?

It’s all about the talents in their respective draft day war rooms.

Quality teams are built through the draft.

That’s just how it works and the aforementioned chart in many ways proves it.