ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 26: Saquon Barkley of Penn State poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #2 overall by the New York Giants during the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium on April 26, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

The New York Giants are finding out that one of the best parts of rebuilding your football team is that the league rewards you with additional draft picks for allowing your overpaid free agents to walk.

According to the website OverTheCap.com, the New York Giants are currently in line to receive two compensatory selections in next year’s NFL Draft.

“Each year, the NFL awards 32 additional draft picks, mostly to teams that lost more free agents than they signed from the previous offseason. How these picks are awarded is based upon a formula kept secret by the league, but many details surrounding it have been better focused over time due to past history.” – OverTheCap.com

The first pick is predicted to be a third-rounder, which is a result of letting three-time Pro Bowl safety Landon Collins enter free agency. He signed a six-year, $84 million deal with the Washington Redskins in March after the Giants did not apply the franchise tag on him in February, allowing him to sign with any club when free agency began in mid-March.

In retrospect, even if the Giants wanted Collins back, there’s no way they would’ve matched the Redskins’ offer. The reasons behind the move (or non-move) was three-fold. Collins is a box safety and the Giants want more versatile players in their back seven. They signed veteran Antoine Bethea and got Jabril Peppers in the blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns. Both players can play the strong and free safety positions.

Another reason was that Collins was still rehabbing from surgery on his shoulder. He suffered a torn labrum late in the season. His recovery/rehab timetable was set at six months, meaning he would not be ready to pass a physical until June. The Giants would have had to make an uniformed medical decision had they wanted to sign him in March.

Thirdly, they just didn’t have the cap room to keep Collins. His franchise tag price was in the excess of $11 million and the Giants’ cap space at the time was about $13 million give or take.

The other compensatory pick is set to be a sixth-rounder in exchange for losing cornerback B.W. Webb in free agency. Webb, who started 13 games for the Giants in 2018, signed a three-year, $10.5 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason.

Keep in mind these are estimates. For the cancellation chart on how OTC arrived at these decisions, you can visit them here. You will see the Giants were in line for several more late round picks but weighted against the other teams’ situations, they fell below the top 32.