It’s not fun when a team loses a big name in free agency, but at least there’s a chance to mitigate the loss, somewhat, thanks to the NFL’s compensatory draft pick system.

How the actual system works is unknown, but the method of determining which teams receive what picks essentially boils down to as such: The bigger the contract signed by the departed player, the higher the draft pick, but teams will never receive anything higher than a third-rounder. But, the picks are canceled out once teams sign a player, or players, in free agency. The NFL awards 32 picks, in all, each year, and teams are given no more than four picks, apiece.

Your 2024 comp picks! pic.twitter.com/KRDB9UlfAW

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 8, 2024

Nowadays, teams are also awarded third-round compensatory selections for two years if they lose a minority coach or executive to a promotion with another team. This has happened for the Browns in the past when the Minnesota Vikings made Kwesi Adofo-Mensah their general manager.

Unfortunately for the Cleveland Browns, they won’t be receiving any extra picks for the 2024 NFL Draft. Cleveland lost Jacoby Brissett, Taven Bryan, and Hjalte Froholdt to free agency last go around and all of them qualified to be compensatory picks for them. The Browns signed four players though with Joshua Dobbs, Dalvin Tomlinson, Juan Thornhill, and Ogbo Okoronkwo all joining the team. With one more signing than players lost, Cleveland misses out on the extra pick.

Still, the Browns have already got under the cap space after being nearly $40 million over. They’ll have seven draft picks after the first round and will restructure other contracts to have cash to spend in free agency. Cleveland remains in a good place going into the offseason where they should make some noise.