Philadelphia Awarded Additional Draft Picks

The NFL awarded 15 different teams additional picks in the 2008 draft when they announced compensatory picks today. The Eagles were one of those teams. Read on to find out how many picks they got and what round each is in.

After adding some quality veterans to the roster through free agency, the Eagles will get plenty of chances to acquire young talent for the 2008 season, especially after they received three extra picks in the upcoming draft.

Following a meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, the league announced compensatory picks on Monday for April’s draft, and Philadelphia got the 33rd pick in the fourth round, the 34th pick in the sixth round and the 37th pick in the sixth round. The Eagles also have extra picks in the sixth (191st overall) and seventh (230th) rounds from the trades of Hank Fraley and Josh Parry, bringing the team’s total number of picks for this year to 11.

The league awarded fifteen teams with compensatory picks based on a formula factoring in the number of players a team lost in free agency the previous season against the number of players it signed. The performance of all the players involved is also taken into consideration.

Last season, the Eagles lost Donte’ Stallworth, Jeff Garcia, Michael Lewis, and Rod Hood in free agency. Their most notable signings of 2007 were Kevin Curtis and Montae Reagor.

The Eagles have had luck with compensatory picks in the past. The teams starting middle linebacker last season, Omar Gaither, was a compensatory pick in the 2006 draft. He was taken by Philadelphia in the fifth round (168th overall).

Andrew Pluta can be reached at [e-mail]