What potential Compensatory Draft Picks are the Vikings looking at for 2019?

As of yesterday, free agents that are gained and lost by teams across the National Football League will no longer affect potential Compensatory selections for the 2019 NFL Draft. Now that the deadline has passed, the folks from Over the Cap have their final projection of where all of the NFL teams stand as far as their potential Compensatory picks are concerned, and it appears to be good news for the Minnesota Vikings.

According to OTC, the Vikings are still projected to receive the maximum number of four Compensatory picks in the 2019 selection process. While nobody knows exactly what the formula for figuring Compensatory picks is, the folks from OTC seem to have a pretty solid handle on it, as they accurately projected nearly all of the Compensatory selections that were given out last season.

Per the projection, the Vikings are set to receive one third-round Compensatory pick (for the loss of quarterback Case Keenum), one sixth-round Compensatory pick (for the loss of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater) and two seventh-round selections (one for the loss of cornerback Tramaine Brock. . .which is still pretty hilarious, not gonna lie. . .and one for the loss of defensive tackle Shamar Stephen).

OTC also points out that the Compensatory pick for Bridgewater could be downgraded if he doesn’t make the Jets’ roster.

According to their cancellation chart, the Vikings’ two big free agent signings “canceled out” a couple of their losses. The loss of quarterback Sam Bradford was offset by the signing of quarterback Kirk Cousins, while the loss of running back Jerick McKinnon was offset by the signing of defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.

Should the Vikings receive the maximum of four extra draft choices through the Compensatory process, it would easily be the biggest such haul in team history. In fact, since the Compensatory pick process started in 1994, the Vikings have received 18 such picks, and have never had one higher than the fourth round.

If the number holds true, then Rick Spielman would already be sitting at his “magic number” of 10 selections, as the Vikings are already down their fifth-round pick in 2019 as a result of the trade with the Denver Broncos that brought quarterback Trevor Siemian to the team.

It sounds like the Vikings are in for a pretty significant haul of extra picks in 2019. Hopefully they can do something significant with them.