Post by Commish_Ron on Nov 15, 2021 14:31:08 GMT -5
The intention of this post is to bring clarity to what protected picks are and how they are determined.
When you sign a comp eligible free agent you will lose your first pick unless that pick is protected.
The top 10 draft order teams before any draft modifications are made have their picks protected. No modifications will change the protection status of these picks. The easiest way to check this is to look at a later draft round (like rounds 10-14) that will be unmodified by any factors. If you have a top 10 pick in that round, your first round pick is protected.
The original protected picks of a draft are:
1 Pick 1
2 Pick 2
3 Pick 3
4 Pick 4
5 Pick 5
6 Pick 6
7 Pick 7
8 Pick 8
9 Pick 9
10 Pick 10
If a comp pick was protected the previous season and rolls over it retains it's protected status but does not change the status of any existing pick. An example: picks 4 and 8 one season go unsigned. They will roll over to the following season as the 5th and 9th picks and increase the total number of protected picks in the draft to 12.
Protected picks now look like:
1 ori Pick 1
2 ori Pick 2
3 ori Pick 3
4 ori Pick 4
5 Pick Rolled over comp
6 ori Pick 5
7 ori Pick 6
8 ori Pick 7
9 Pick Rolled over comp
10 ori Pick 8
11 ori Pick 9
12 ori Pick 10
One other factor can contribute. If one or two teams that are outside of that original 10 win the draft lottery and move into the top two picks, those picks become protected. But again, the protected status of all other picks is unmodified. To further our example, this would be the impact of both lottery picks coming from teams outside of the original 10.
1 Lottery winner
2 Lottery winner
3 ori Pick 1
4 ori Pick 2
5 Pick Rolled over comp
6 ori Pick 3
7 ori Pick 4
8 ori Pick 5
9 Pick Rolled over comp
10 ori Pick 6
11 ori Pick 7
12 ori Pick 8
13 ori Pick 9
14 ori Pick 10
In this draft example we ended up with 14 protected picks. But the question is not "Where did my pick end up?" or "How many protected picks are in this draft?" but rather "Where did my pick start?" If it was originally a top 10 pick it will be protected. If it was not a top 10 pick it will not be unless it moves up via the draft lottery.
One final note for clarification. Rolled over comp picks never move. They are one slot lower than the previous season. An unsigned 4th pick in the second round becomes the 5th pick in the second round. Once inserted these picks never move. All other draft modifications (comp eligible signings, the lottery, purchased picks, etc) move around the comp picks while they stay stationary. Example above as the draft lottery moved all existing picks down 2 but the comp rollovers stayed at picks 5 and 9.
When you sign a comp eligible free agent you will lose your first pick unless that pick is protected.
The top 10 draft order teams before any draft modifications are made have their picks protected. No modifications will change the protection status of these picks. The easiest way to check this is to look at a later draft round (like rounds 10-14) that will be unmodified by any factors. If you have a top 10 pick in that round, your first round pick is protected.
The original protected picks of a draft are:
1 Pick 1
2 Pick 2
3 Pick 3
4 Pick 4
5 Pick 5
6 Pick 6
7 Pick 7
8 Pick 8
9 Pick 9
10 Pick 10
If a comp pick was protected the previous season and rolls over it retains it's protected status but does not change the status of any existing pick. An example: picks 4 and 8 one season go unsigned. They will roll over to the following season as the 5th and 9th picks and increase the total number of protected picks in the draft to 12.
Protected picks now look like:
1 ori Pick 1
2 ori Pick 2
3 ori Pick 3
4 ori Pick 4
5 Pick Rolled over comp
6 ori Pick 5
7 ori Pick 6
8 ori Pick 7
9 Pick Rolled over comp
10 ori Pick 8
11 ori Pick 9
12 ori Pick 10
One other factor can contribute. If one or two teams that are outside of that original 10 win the draft lottery and move into the top two picks, those picks become protected. But again, the protected status of all other picks is unmodified. To further our example, this would be the impact of both lottery picks coming from teams outside of the original 10.
1 Lottery winner
2 Lottery winner
3 ori Pick 1
4 ori Pick 2
5 Pick Rolled over comp
6 ori Pick 3
7 ori Pick 4
8 ori Pick 5
9 Pick Rolled over comp
10 ori Pick 6
11 ori Pick 7
12 ori Pick 8
13 ori Pick 9
14 ori Pick 10
In this draft example we ended up with 14 protected picks. But the question is not "Where did my pick end up?" or "How many protected picks are in this draft?" but rather "Where did my pick start?" If it was originally a top 10 pick it will be protected. If it was not a top 10 pick it will not be unless it moves up via the draft lottery.
One final note for clarification. Rolled over comp picks never move. They are one slot lower than the previous season. An unsigned 4th pick in the second round becomes the 5th pick in the second round. Once inserted these picks never move. All other draft modifications (comp eligible signings, the lottery, purchased picks, etc) move around the comp picks while they stay stationary. Example above as the draft lottery moved all existing picks down 2 but the comp rollovers stayed at picks 5 and 9.