Vikings awarded two fourth-round picks

The Vikings were awarded two fourth-round draft picks as compensation for the 2011 free-agent losses of Sidney Rice and Ray Edwards. That brings the Vikings’ total to 10 draft picks in April.

The Vikings received two compensatory picks in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft for the 2011 free-agent losses of Sidney Rice, Ray Edwards, Tarvaris Jackson and Ben Leber. The Vikings received the 33rd and 39th picks in the fourth round and had been expecting to receive those two fourth-rounders for months now.

That brings the Vikings’ total to 10 picks in the April 26-28 draft – one each in the first three rounds, three picks in the fourth round, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh. The Vikings lost a pick in the sixth round in the Donovan McNabb trade, but had an additional one from trading Jayme Mitchell to the Cleveland Browns. They also gained an extra pick in the seventh round from the Randy Moss trade.

Compensatory picks can’t be traded, but the extra fourth-rounders will give general manager Rick Spielman more freedom to use his other picks to move around in the draft and target other players he deems worthy of trading up to obtain.

Since 2006, the Vikings have selected Ray Edwards, Brian Robison, Everson Griffen and Christian Ballard in the fourth round.

Cleveland, Green Bay and the New York Jets received four compensatory picks each to lead the annual dispersing of 32 compensatory picks. The Vikings, however, received the second-highest compensatory pick of 2012 and two of the top eight. The Raiders got the top one awarded this year, at the end of the third round.

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL Management Council. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula.

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Tim Yotter is the publisher of Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.

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