Compensatory draft selections by design are supposed to lessen the blow for teams that are losing talent in unrestricted free agency but may not have the resources to sign highly valued free agents themselves. The Los Angeles Rams have leveraged compensatory draft selections as an integral part of their team build, though this is a topic that can be complex and often misunderstood.
The earliest example of the Rams and the Les Snead-Sean McVay brain trust gaming the system was back in 2017 when the team traded a 2nd round draft pick to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for receiver Sammy Watkins.