The San Francisco 49ers were awarded no compensatory picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. Neither were the Seattle Seahawks or Los Angeles. But the other NFC West team, the Arizona Cardinals, were awarded three, and that includes a third-round pick.
Not just a third-round pick, but the highest overall compensatory pick given out this year — the 33rd pick in the third round. In addition to that pick, the Cardinals were awarded a fourth-round pick (34th in that round) and a seventh round pick (36th in that round).
The third-round pick can likely be attributed to the departure of Calais Campbell, who was making an average-per-year of $15 million at the time.
The fourth-round pick was likely due to Tony Jefferson, who had an average-per-year of $8.5 million at the time. Finally, the seventh-round pick was likely due to Alex Okafor, carrying an average-per-year of $1.935 million.
Those were some key losses, and the Cardinals are getting some good draft capital. You can find a lot of great players in the third and fourth rounds. The seventh round is such a cluster of randomness, but the back-end of the third round is a good place to earn an extra pick.
Oh well, they probably need it!