By Blessing 
The Detroit Lions are currently in line to receive two compensatory draft picks for the 2026 NFL Draft — and one of them could come in the seventh round.
Thanks to former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn accepting the head coaching role with the New York Jets, the Lions are expected to land a third-round compensatory pick. The NFL awards these picks through a specific formula that accounts for both player and staff movement, rewarding teams that lose more valuable personnel than they bring in.
When it comes to players, the compensatory pick system hinges on Compensatory Free Agents (CFAs) — players a team loses or signs during free agency. The league compares the number and value of CFAs lost versus those gained. If a team loses and signs the same number of qualifying free agents, it could still earn a late-round compensatory pick if the overall value of players lost outweighs those acquired.
As OverTheCap.com explains:
“The formula will occasionally award a ‘net value’ compensatory pick, as explained in App. V, §5, for a team if that team loses and gains an equal number of CFAs, but the sum of the FNV of the CFAs lost is 300 or more points greater than the sum of the FNV of the CFAs gained. Net value compensatory picks are always 7th round picks, and they are always placed in order immediately after the regular 7th round compensatory picks.”
The value of a CFA is determined by a formula that considers contract terms — specifically the Average Per Year (APY) — along with the player’s snap counts on offense, defense, and special teams. Bonus points are also awarded for All-Pro selections by the Associated Press.
Right now, the Lions qualify for a seventh-round compensatory pick in 2026, largely due to losing veterans Carlton Davis and Kevin Zeitler, who carried a combined value of 363 points under the formula. Davis signed a contract with an $18 million APY, while Zeitler agreed to a one-year, $9 million deal.
In contrast, Detroit added cornerback D.J. Reed and defensive tackle Roy Lopez, with Reed landing a $16 million per year deal, and Lopez signing a one-year contract worth $4.5 million.
Other players like Ifeatu Melifonwu, Grant Stuard, Rock Ya-Sin, and Kenny Yeboah don’t factor into the formula, either because of their contract structure or missing financial details. Stuard, for instance, signed a fully guaranteed one-year, $1.7 million deal, while the terms for Ya-Sin and Yeboah haven’t been made public.
As for Avonte Maddox, early projections suggest his signing with Detroit wouldn’t meet the criteria necessary to affect the compensatory pick formula.
So, while nothing is final until the NFL confirms it, the Lions are in a strong position to pocket some extra draft capital in 2026 — and every pick counts when building for the future.