Each season the NFL awards compensatory draft picks to teams that lost more players than they signed in free agency. It sounds like a process to benefit the weaker teams, but that's not how it worked out this year.
Sixteen teams received those picks this year, and three of the top five, and four of the top seven, went to some of the league's best teams: Texans, Falcons, and the two Super Bowl participants, Ravens and 49ers.
In a way it's not surprising, as the best teams are most apt to be raided in free agency by other teams. Considering the number of free agents the Ravens have lost this offseason, they can expect to reel in a bounty of compensatory picks next season, as well.
The 49ers, who traded Alex Smith for a high second and also have Carolina's third-rounder, will pick seven times in the first four rounds. Nice time to be a 49ers fan.
--Andy Richardson