How much money is a draft pick worth?

[Fountain City Blues]

The Osweiler trade does bring up an interesting question with the notion the Browns "bought" a draftpick. How much is the Texans' 2nd round pick in terms of money? How much would be the median draftee at said spot be worth? What would a good draft pick with that pick be worth?

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Well obviously it was worth around $16M to Houston since they probably only care about this year (believe 2018 he would've basically been a free release, little bit of dead cap). I'd say it all depends on how much cap room a team has and what position they are in. The Texans only had about $14M before they got rid of Osweiler and they'd need probably $3-5M for rookies and another potential $3-5M for depth, so that leaves them with almost nothing.

This is an interesting trade though... and I wonder if the rules will change because of it. Teams that are bad traditionally have like $80M of cap room, so taking someone (even a QB) off the books is HUGE. I don't think any teams will forfeit 1st or 2nd rounders routinely to have a lesser team take cap off their books, since if you're routinely making shit signings like Osweiler you're probably not THAT competitive anyway, and NEED the 1st/2nd (which is exactly the case with Houston. They'll be lucky to win the division given Tennessee's up and coming team). The 2018 2nd is kind of like a 3rd-4th (one year out and swap up this years picks).

That said, I think the NFL will be fine with it. The one thing the NFL pushes for is getting crappy teams back in the hunt. It's the whole reason the draft and cap system in the NFL is designed the way it is (no lottery).

It's also different than 'cash' trades like in baseball... cap savings are tied to a player and very specific circumstances, so I don't foresee a lot of stuff like this in the future. What an embarrassment for Houston FO though, good lord. Everyone gave it a F-C signing last year, and then this happens, lol wow. I'm surprised that whole FO hasn't been fired.

Cleveland also seems to be in this draft stock up mode.... they need to f'ing hit on someone at some point though. If they are smart this draft just take Garrett despite trade offers.

 

[USCDoom]

The Draft Pick is Worthless, the Player they Draft is another Story.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The Draft Pick is Worthless, the Player they Draft is another Story.

So the question therein is what is the 50th percentile outcome.

 

[Clayton]

So the question therein is what is the 50th percentile outcome.

A starting level player on a rookie contract give or take.

So quite a bit