Future LA Rams draft picks: Updated with projected 2022 comp picks

The LA Rams may be the source of NFL talent for 31 NFL teams through the course of the 2021 NFL Free Agency market, but help is on the way next year. No, there is likely no salary cap in store. But the Rams are most definitely looking at the likelihood of being awarded the maximum complement of four compensatory draft picks for the 2022 NFL Draft.

Since we are on that topic, how does the compensatory pick system work? Well, the annual event is the result of compromising between the NFL Players’ Association which wants to infuse self-determination among its members, and the challenge of players leaving to sign elsewhere from overly impacting a few select NFL teams. Compensatory picks are the solution to restore lost value to those hard-hit teams.

The formulary is very complex, so if you are interested, I recommend reading the entire article written by the capologists at OverTheCap.com. In their article, they do a fine job of explaining all of the nuances of establishing the likely compensatory pick for each free agent signed, any and all offsets triggered by the losing team signing a free agent of nearly equal value, and the projections of the 2021 compensatory picks to be awarded for the 2021 NFL Draft.

So I am applying a less accurate, but simplistic method to estimate the 2022 compensatory pick awards as a result of LA Rams players signing elsewhere.  To ‘rough in’ the estimated round, I will apply a seven percent escalator to the value of 2020 contracts, and use that new ‘cut off’ to estimate where the latest LA Rams outbound free agents may land in terms of compensatory picks.

As of the official start to the 2021 NFL season, the Rams have lost four players to free agency, and have as of yet, signed nobody new. That results in no offset calculations to ponder