After a brief confusion due to an error in the NFL’s compensatory distribution, the 49ers officially know they will receive two compensatory picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The NFL officially announced compensatory selections on Wednesday. San Francisco got the pair they needed to get – a third-round pick for Jets head coach Robert Saleh and a fifth-round pick as compensation for Emmanuel Sanders’ exit to the free agency.
Teams can receive comp. In a few ways. When free agents leave, there is a formula that dictates whether the team will be given a choice for that player.
The other way is through the new adjustments to Rooney Rule, which gives teams compensatory options if they have hired a coach or a member of the main office as head coach or general manager. If a team has a minority coach hired away from its staff as head coach, they receive two selections from the third round spread over two years. If they have hired a member of the minority bureau as general manager, they will receive a selection comp.
In San Francisco, this season, both scenarios took place after Saleh was hired by the Jets and the player’s staff vice president Martin Mayhew was hired as GM of the Washington football team. Hence the confusion in the initial list of NFL team selections, which gave the 49ers two third-round picks.
Instead, they will receive one this year and one next year for Saleh to be hired and then another in 2023 for hiring Mayhew.
The NFL corrected the error and officially offered the 49ers general election no. 102 and the general selection no. 180. San Francisco is now set to introduce the draft with 10 choices.