On Wednesday, the NFL awarded the Miami Dolphins four compensatory draft selections, the maximum a team can receive. Now, they have taken one away.
Miami received compensatory selections in the third and fourth rounds and two in the seventh.
The exact formula isn't clear, but compensatory picks are awarded based on how many players a team loses in the previous offseason's free agency period. The Dolphins received a third-rounder for losing Robert Hunt, a fourth for Christian Wilkins, and a seventh for DeShon Elliott. The other three losses in free agency were effectively canceled out by the signings of Jordyn Brooks, Aaron Brewer, and Kendall Fuller.
But now, the NFL apparently believes there was an error.
According to a report by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the NFL Management Council recalculated the compensatory picks. It removed one of the Dolphins' two seventh-rounders and gave the New Orleans Saints a seventh-rounder instead.
The NFL Management Council has informed clubs of a recalculation to the 2025 compensatory picks, awarding the #Saints a seventh-round selection, removing a seventh from the #Dolphins and sliding back the #Browns and #Chargers sevenths by one pick.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 14, 2025
Dolphins are the only NFL team to be stripped of a compensatory pick after recalculations made
Pelissero points out the Saints are being awarded a seventh, but not necessarily the seventh Miami is losing. The Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers will drop back. Meanwhile, no one has said why the Dolphins are losing a selection or why the Saints are receiving it.
Miami lost Robert Hunt, Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, and Andrew Van Ginkel, among others, in last year's free agency period.
The Dolphins will now drop back to 10 draft picks, and while it would be easy to get a little upset over whatever this actually is, they tend to add quite a few undrafted players.
There has been speculation the mix-up came due to the loss of Cedrick Wilson, who should not have been a part of the equation, but the NFL has not made any official statements.