The NFL awarded compensatory picks to a selection of franchises today, based on a complex formula centered around 2015 free agency. The Cowboys, as predicted, were awarded four picks; one at the end of the fourth round and three at the end of the sixth round. This brings the Cowboys grand total of selections to 9 for the 2016 draft.

Dallas was one of three teams (Patriots, 49ers) to come away with four additional picks. Compensatory picks must be used on selections for the team they were awarded to. Starting in the 2017 draft, teams will be able trade the picks just as they do merit-based picks.

Since last season’s free agency period, this haul has been anticipated. In January, we felt secure enough in the formula to predict the exact slots for the awards. Earlier this week, the NFL docked the Kansas City Chiefs their third round selection for tampering with Jeremy Maclin, thus moving all subsequent picks up one. The mark was not missed by much.

Dallas has four picks in the Top 101 and thanks to the compensatory selections they will be able to nab several players they might otherwise have had targeted as priority undrafted free agents.

Player Lost Contract APY Round Player Signed Contract APY Round Demarco Murray 5 yr/ $42 million $8.4m 4th x Greg Hardy 1 yr/ $8.8m $8.8 4th Jermey Parnell 5 yr/ $32 million $6.4m 4th AWARD Bruce Carter 4 yr/ $17 million $4.25m 6th AWARD Henry Melton 1 yr/$3.75 million $3.75m 6th AWARD Justin Durant 3 yr/ $10.8 million $3.6m 6th AWARD Dwayne Harris 5 yr/ $17.5 million $3.5m 6th x Andrew Gachkar 2 yrs/$5.2m $2.6m 7th George Selvie 1 yr/ $1.4 million $1.4m 7th x Darren McFadden 2 yr/$3m $1.5m 7th

Here are the rules that govern compensatory selections:

There are only 32 compensatory picks available to be spread out amongst the 32 franchises, but they are not distributed equally. Also, no team can receive more than four compensatory picks in any one draft. For each player a team signs, it cancels out a player that team lost. These are canceled out based on the value of the contracts. If a team loses a player valued as a third-round pick, and a player valued as a fifth round pick, but sign a player who’s valued as a third… then the team gets the fifth-round pick compensation. The third-round picks cancel out. However, if they sign a player who’s valued as a fourth, then he would cancel out the lower player, and said team would get compensated with the third-round pick. The primary determining factor of which round a team is compensated with for a lost player is the Adjusted Average Annual Value of that player’s deal with his new team,. There are levels associated with each round of compensation and teams are slotted in order within those rounds based on the rankings. Playing time and postseason awards are factored in at a much lesser weight. The player must stay with his new team through Week 10 of the next season to qualify. Anthony Spencer would have been on the ledger, as would have Jed Collins and Jasper Brinkley, but all were released prior to the Week 10 deadline. Multiple players cannot be rolled into a higher compensatory. For instance, Dallas having 5 players with the last two being 6th round comps, will not move it to a 5th rounder 2015 also marked the first offseason in which UFAs signed between May 13 and June 1 would not qualify as CFAs. On top of salary concerns, not every free agent signed or lost qualifies for compensatory consideration. There are ways to sign players that won’t add to the “players signed” ledger. Players who are cut from other teams, players who were RFAs or ERFAs who weren’t tendered, players signed after May 12th. This eliminates losing Sterling Moore, and signing Corey White from the calculations.