In a 2022 NFL Draft compensatory pick update, the Pittsburgh Steelers are projected to receive just one comp pick for next year’s draft, a fourth-rounder for the loss of Bud Dupree. That estimation comes courtesy of Over the Cap’s Nick Korte, the leading expert on all things bonus-pick related.
In a Tuesday Twitter thread, he outlined new comp pick projections. In his latest update, the Steelers would get a fourth-round pick for Dupree and nothing else. Most notably, Korte believes Joe Haeg’s contract sits on the qualification bubble. Should it qualify, it’ll cancel out the fifth-rounder the team could have received for Matt Feiler, even if Haeg does not play 25% of the team’s snaps this season.
Haeg is likely to finish the season under that 25% mark. But in Korte’s calculations, Haeg’s contract would still make the list of contracts that “count” in the comp formula, and cancel out Feiler’s departure. Elsewhere, Ahkello Witherspoon’s acquisition cancels out Mike Hilton leaving to go to Cincinnati.
With his massive payday from the Tennessee Titans, Bud Dupree was originally thought to easily score Pittsburgh a third-round comp picks. But he’s struggled to stay on the field this season and has spent the last several weeks on IR. As we recently wrote about, it’ll take Dupree coming back ASAP and playing a lot of snaps when he does to push that fourth-rounder into third round territory.
If all those things hold true, the Steelers would have the following 2022 draft picks:
The sixth-rounder, by the way, was a conditional pick acquired from the Kansas City Chiefs for Melvin Ingram. It’s unclear what those conditions are though, with how much and how well Ingram is playing, odds are decent the pick won’t get any worse than a sixth. And that fourth-rounder for Dupree would of course be a late fourth-rounder, making it feel like an early fifth.
As Korte cautions, things can still change the rest of the season. And the comp formula is difficult to predict with complete confidence. But the Steelers are likely to have less draft capital than they hoped heading into the draft.
