Oh, come on. There isn’t much to complain about in the New Orleans Saints signing Andy Dalton — but losing a valuable third-round compensatory pick in the 2023 NFL draft to add him could be disastrous. And that’s the scenario outlined by Over The Cap’s Nick Korte, who specializes in projecting the league’s annual comp pick distributions.
Before signing Dalton, the Saints were projected to receive one of the highest-valued comp picks in 2023 after losing standout left tackle Terron Armstead to the Miami Dolphins on a pricey free agent contract. But only teams that have lost more qualifying players (those signed above roughly $3 million or more) factor into the equation, and Dalton landing in New Orleans balances the scales to where that Armstead comp pick is now out of reach.
It doesn’t matter that Dalton’s $3 million per-year average is dwarfed by the $15 million per-year that Armstead is bringing in. Because both players meet the threshold, they both count, and they cancel each other out for New Orleans. Giving up a top-100 draft pick for Dalton would be malpractice. Hopefully the Saints are aware of this; they’ve navigated the comp pick formula carefully over the last few years, managing to add a couple of extra draft picks that have been put to good use.
