Update:
The New Orleans Saints will forfeit their 2022 sixth-round pick and be fined $700,000 for violations of the NFL-NFLPA COVID protocols during the 2020 season, according to Nick Underhill.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy tells Pro Football Talk that the Saints and Raiders will both receive the draft picks they lose for COVID-19 protocol violations this past season back for this year’s draft.
“They are not forfeiting them,” McCarthy said. “Neither team will lose those picks.”
The Saints lost their 2021 seventh-round pick while the Raiders were docked their 2021 sixth-round pick for repeated COVID-19 violations.
According to Michael David Smith, the league did not explain why they changed their minds about giving the picks back to these teams, but he says it appears as though they were able to appeal their cases.
Meanwhile, the NFL also confirmed to Pro Football Talk that the Patriots received an additional fifth-round compensatory pick in next month’s draft.
According to Smith, the NFL realized that they made a mistake upon calculating compensatory picks and New England should have received the fifth-round pick.
This resulted in the Falcons’ fifth-round compensatory pick dropping a few spots.
Interestingly enough, the NFL opted to allow the Bears to keep the final comp pick awarded, even though they normally only award 32 compensatory picks and giving the Patriots their fifth-rounder brings the total to 33.
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So the Saints DO lose a draft pick, albeit a 6th rounder. Apparently potentially causing others to get sick from a deadly virus isn’t as bad as the natural gas low making footballs lose air pressure in colder air.