Source Indicates Ravens WILL get Comp Pick for Reed

Monday’s Salary Cap article discussed the Ravens’ prospects for receiving four (4) Compensatory draft picks for this coming May’s NFL draft and the question of whether Ed Reed’s November release by the Texans would impact those possibilities.

Not long after that article was posted, a team source reached out to Russell Street Report and pointed out two very important things. The first was that I can’t add (not a good thing for someone who writes about the Salary Cap!). When I noted that no Comp picks had ever been granted for a player released after only 9 “weeks” with his new team, I failed to take into account that Houston had a Bye week during week 8 of the 2013 season. As such, while Reed only was on the Texans for 9 games, he was actually released after week 10 of the season.

This is very important, as it turns out, because the second thing pointed out by the team source was that according to the Compensatory pick rules, a player must be on his team through week 10 of the NFL season to be considered for the Comp pick formula.

As such, there is no question that the Ravens will receive a Comp pick for Reed.

The only question that remains, then, is in what round that pick will be?

Based on last year’s Comp picks, the yearly average of Reed’s deal (3 years/$15M = $5M/year) would put Reed somewhere on the line between a 4th and 5th round Comp pick. However, under the Comp pick rules, a 5th is the highest Comp pick that can be granted for a player with over 10 years of NFL experience.

So, Reed’s pick will initially be slotted as a 5th round pick, and then will likely be dropped a round or two based on Reed’s lack of performance – he played in only 7 of the 9 games that he was on the Texans’ roster, with just 5 starts – and his quick release.

So, while Reed’s release will factor in and likely be part of lowering the round in which the Comp pick will be granted, the good news is that it won’t prevent the Ravens from receiving the Comp pick.