When it comes to free agency in the NFL, compensatory selections have become a huge factor in deciding whether to sign veteran players or not. The league determines how many additional draft picks a team is granted using a formula that takes into account the players that are both added and lost during a specific period of the previous year’s offseason.
For the Dallas Cowboys, this resulted in the maximum allowed four compensatory selections being awarded to America’s Team prior to the 2018 NFL Draft. That was mainly due to the heavy free agency losses they suffered the previous year.