Likely no compensatory picks coming for the Vikings in 2022

Over the past couple of NFL Drafts, the Minnesota Vikings have received a handful of Compensatory Draft Picks to bolster their draft capital. This happened because the team lost free agents that went on to sign bigger contracts with other teams and did not give out a lot of big contracts to balance that out. With transactions no longer counting as a part of the league’s Compensatory Pick formula, we can take a look at whether or not we can expect the same to happen in 2022.

And, if the leaders in this field are any indication, the answer is that we should not.

Over the Cap has their projected Compensatory Picks for 2022 posted on their website, and they do not have the Vikings receiving any extra picks for next year’s selection meeting.

The Vikings did sign a pair of big-money free agents this offseason in defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and cornerback Patrick Peterson. Those more than cancel out the losses of safety Anthony Harris to Philadelphia and linebacker Eric Wilson to Indianapolis, meaning that the Vikings will likely not be receiving any Compensatory Picks in the next draft.

This means that the Vikings have the standard seven picks for the 2022 NFL Draft as things stand right now. Those are as follows:

• First-round pick
• Second-round pick
• Third-round pick
• Fourth-round pick
• Fifth-round pick (from the Baltimore Ravens as part of the Yannick Ngakoue trade. The Vikings sent their fifth-round pick for 2022 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first Ngakoue trade)
• Sixth-round pick
• Sixth-round pick (from the Kansas City Chiefs as part of the Mike Hughes trade)

It appears that if Rick Spielman a) wants to get to the threshold of 10 selections that he apparently likes so much and b) wants to have one of the largest draft classes in the NFL for the fourth year in a row, he’s going to have to bring back the “Trader Rick” persona on draft night next April, because he’s not going to get any extra help from the league.