Bank Error In Your Favor: Patriots Land Another Compensatory Pick

Without much of an explanation from the NFL, the New England Patriots suddenly find themselves with a compensatory fifth-round draft pick.

That's a bit curious because the Patriots did not own such a pick when the league announced compensatory picks last week. But when the NFL announced the draft order Friday, there it was -- a compensatory fifth-rounder for the Patriots.

So how did this all come about?

Well, pain and simple, the NFL realized it had made a mistake in calculating the formula for determining compensatory picks. So the league merely (and fairly quietly) corrected the error -- and moved the Atlanta Falcons' compensatory fifth-rounder down two slots to boot.

In most years, the league limits compensatory picks to 32. So in most years, the fact the Patriots received one would mean someone else would need to lose one. In this case, it would be the Chicago Bears, who received the final compensatory pick of 2021.

But the NFL decided against that, allowing the Bears to keep their compensatory pick, give one to the Patriots, and just be generally nice about the whole thing.