This is something I had never heard of before. Apparently the League tries to even out a team’s loss of quality players by awarding extra draft picks.

Here’s a quick primer on NFL draft math:

Of course draft picks are the black market currency of the sport. Some teams are pick hoarders. Others are more casual and work with what they have. It seems like every free agency deal over the last two weeks had some sort of pick involved.

All of these extra picks are in the 3rd-7th rounds. Usually after the fourth round teams are making picks because the have to. The strong players are gone by the third round.

Here's the list of who got what:

I’m not to happy with Seattle getting 4 picks. They’re already a strong team, and have made several big-name free agent signings recently. The NFC West is already the smash-mouth conference. This season looks to be bare-knuckle brawl.

To find out more read the NFL press release (PDF link).