Packers receive compensatory picks in 4th and 7th rounds of 2022 NFL Draft

The Green Bay Packers have, historically, been one of the NFL’s most frequent recipients of compensatory draft picks. Under general manager Ted Thompson in particular, the Packers were often loath to sign outside free agents, instead allowing many of their players to sign elsewhere. That strategy netted the team numerous compensatory picks over the years, a strategy which the team put to good use with many successes, particularly in the fourth round.

This year, under Brian Gutekunst’s leadership, the Packers will get two more compensatory picks for the 2022 NFL Draft as a result of the moves in last year’s free agency period. The Packers lost a pair of qualifying unrestricted free agents in 2021 to other teams: center Corey Linsley signed a five-year, $62.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Chargers while running back Jamaal Williams got a two-year contract worth $6 million from the Detroit Lions. This year, those players’ departures are turning into fourth-round and seventh-round compensatory picks, respectively.

The Packers’ bonus fourth-round selection will be the third of six newly-awarded picks in that round, coming in at pick number 140 overall. The seventh-rounder is the fifth of nine in that round, slotting in at 258.

This gives the Packers nine picks in 2022 — these two picks plus their original selections in each round except for the sixth, and an extra seventh-rounder. The Packers moved this year’s sixth-round pick to Houston last summer in exchange for Randall Cobb, then received an early seventh from the same Texans a month later in exchange for cornerback Ka’Dar Hollman.