Giants get three compensatory picks in 2020 NFL Draft
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman speaks to the media during a news conference on Dec. 31, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Giants lost a bunch of key free agents last offseason, but it paid off on Tuesday when they were awarded three compensatory picks in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Giants received a third-round pick as well as two seventh-rounders, including the very last pick of the draft — also known as the "Mr. Irrelevant" pick.
The Giants qualified for compensatory picks because, according to a formula created by the NFL Management Council that factors in salary, playing time and postseason honors, the team lost more or better compensatory free agents last offseason than they acquired. They lost Landon Collins, Jamon Brown, Kerry Wynn, B.W. Webb, Mario Edwards and Josh Mauro in free agency last year while signing just two free agents: Markus Golden and Golden Tate.
The Giants' third-round pick will be 99th overall. It will be the Giants' only third-round pick in this draft after they traded their own third-rounder (No. 68 overall) to the Jets as part of a deal for defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
The Giants' two additional seventh-rounders will be No. 247 and 255. They already had two seventh-round picks: their own, and the Saints' seventh-rounder (which came in the Eli Apple trade in October 2018).
If the Giants stay put with the 255th pick, it would be the third time since 1976 and the first since 1991 that the Giants would close out the draft. The player who is taken with that final pick every year is dubbed "Mr. Irrelevant" and gets a special weeklong trip to Newport Beach, California. That trip, called "Irrelevant Week," includes a special banquet where they are given the anti-Heisman "Lowsman Trophy" (which depicts a player mid-fumble).
The Giants now have 10 picks in the 2020 draft, including the fourth overall selection.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement limits the number of compensatory picks to the number of teams in the NFL at the time (32), and no team is awarded more than four compensatory picks in any year (the Patriots were the only team to receive four this offseason). The Giants technically qualified for a fourth compensatory pick, but because it ranked 33rd among the final numerical values of all compensatory selections, they were not awarded it.
Giants' draft capital for 2020
Round 1: No. 4 overall
Round 2: No. 36 overall
Round 3: No. 99 overall (compensatory)
Round 4: No. 110 overall
Round 5: No. 150 overall
Round 6: No. 183 overall
Round 7: No. 218 overall; No. 238 overall (from Saints in Eli Apple trade); No. 247 overall (compensatory); No. 255 overall (compensatory)
Nick Klopsis is Newsday.com's sports editor. He often can be found studying NFL and college football film for his latest draft breakdown.
