The Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the National Football League found out how many compensatory draft selections were awarded on Tuesday. Fortunately for K.C., general manager Brett Veach has two more choices to work with heading into the 2025 NFL Draft.
Per a press release from the NFL, the league awarded 35 extra compensatory picks in the upcoming spring draft—a three-day event held this year at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Fifteen teams earned extra picks overall.
Compensatory draft choices are awarded to teams who lost more and better free agents than they signed the previous season. It's a somewhat secret formula that the NFL is not to keen to share, but the basics of it are public enough that our friends at Over the Cap (specifically Nick Korte) are usually quite close in their annual projections.
The quality of previous free agent gains and losses are compiled by a mixture of the salary they commanded, the amount of playing time, and any postseason awards based on production. The most amount of compensatory selections a single team can earn in a given draft is four.
This year, the Chiefs have two extra picks, both in the seventh round, at No. 251 and No. 256 overall. While it's easy to shrug at the addition of such low-level picks, the Chiefs have been quite effective with previous late-round picks. The 2022 class yielded three important contributors in the seventh round alone in running back Isiah Pacheco and defensive backs Jaylen Watson and Nazeeh Johnson.
The Chiefs earned their selections after losing offensive lineman Nick Allegretti, linebacker Willie Gay, and punter Tommy Townsend in the spring of 2024. Their only signing to offset those picks was wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, who was just re-signed before free agency began in '25.
Here's the official list of Chiefs draft picks for the 2025 NFL Draft
- Round 1 - No. 31 overall
- Round 2 - No. 63 overall
- Round 3 - No. 66 overall
- Round 3 - No. 95 overall
- Round 4 - No. 133 overall
- Round 7 - No. 226 overall
- Round 7 - No. 251 overall
- Round 7 - No. 256 overall