Each year, the NFL awards "compensatory picks" to teams around the league that lost more players than they gained during the prior year's free agency period. Those compensatory picks can be anywhere from the end of the third round to the end of the seventh round.
The value of the picks is determined mainly by the value of the contract the departing player has signed with his new team, but there are other factors as well, such as the number of snaps that player has played with his new team and individual honors, such as being named to the All-Pro team.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost four "CFAs" — compensatory free agents — in 2025 free agency. A "compensatory free agent" is a player who qualifies for the compensatory pick formula.
Those players were Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Mekhi Becton, and Isaiah Rodgers. The Eagles gained one CFA, Azeez Ojulari. The compensatory pick the Eagles would have received for the loss of Rodgers will be canceled out by the signing of Ojulari.
Based just on the sizes of the contracts that Williams, Sweat, and Becton signed, the Eagles were expected to earn a third-round pick for the loss of Williams, a fourth-round pick for the loss of Sweat, and a fifth-round pick for the loss of Becton. The projected compensatory picks, shown here:
Players lost (APY) - Projected round Players gained (APY) - Projected round
iDL Milton Williams ($26 million) - 3 EDGE Azeez Ojulari ($3.5 million) - 7
EDGE Josh Sweat ($19.1 million) - 4
RG Mekhi Becton ($10 million) - 5
CB Isaiah Rodgers ($7.5 million) - 6
However, there was always a possibility that the value of the compensatory picks for Williams, Sweat, and Becton could fall into a lower round tier if they didn't hit playing time benchmarks. Here we'll update each players' compensatory standing, so to speak.
Milton Williams
If you look at OverTheCap's compensatory formula chart, Williams needs to play around 28 percent of the Patriots' regular season defensive snaps to qualify for a third-round compensatory pick. Through 11 games, Williams has played 400 of a possible 656 defensive snaps, or 61 percent.
The Patriots placed Milton Williams on injured reserve this week after he suffered a high ankle sprain. He'll miss at least the next four games.
The Patriots are on pace to play 1014 defensive snaps this season. If Williams doesn't play another snap and the Patriots stay on that pace, he will have played roughly 40 percent of the Pats' defensive snaps, which would keep him within that third-round tier.
Josh Sweat
According to OverTheCap's chart, Sweat only needed to play about 7 percent of the Cardinals' defensive snaps this season to stay within the fourth-round tier. He has already played 360 of a possible 657 snaps this season. He will comfortably stay in the fourth-round tier.
Mekhi Becton
Becton's situation is more dicey than Williams' or Sweat's. According to OverTheCap's chart, Becton needs to play 53 percent of the Chargers' offensive snaps to stay in the fifth-round tier. Becton has missed two games and he has missed significant snaps due to injury in four others. Becton has not played well this season for the Chargers when healthy, and Jim Harbaugh benched him to start the second half of the Chargers' game against the Jaguars Week 11.
Through 11 games, Becton has played 419 of a possible 738 snaps, or 69 percent.
The Chargers are on pace to play 1141 offensive snaps this season. At that pace, Becton would have to play at least 605 snaps this season. Again, he has already played 419, so he would need another 186 snaps during the Chargers' final six games, at their current pace. We'll see if Becton's benching carries over into the Chargers' next game. But it does appear that there's a decent enough chance that the fifth-round pick expected for Becton could be downgraded to a sixth-round pick.
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