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Slowly the news has been trickling out on twitter about which teams received compensatory picks in the 2012 NFL Draft. Charger fans finally got this exciting news moments ago:
The Chargers have been awarded a seventh-round compensatory draft choice (No. 250 overall, 43rd of 46 in the final round).
— Christopher Smith (@SDchargersdude) March 26, 2012
That is certainly not the sexiest pick. The Chargers received this selection as a net value award for signing some free agents, but losing slightly more value (as determined by the NFL's calculations) from their free agents who signed with other teams. The free agents in question are ones from last offseason, so we are talking about Travis LaBoy, Takeo Spikes, Kevin Burnett and Darren Sproles and NOT Vincent Jackson, Mike Tolbert, Jarret Johnson, Robert Meachem, Eddie Royal, Atari Bigby and Le'Ron McClain. The actual calculations the NFL uses for determining value are not public knowledge, but most conclude that the main factor is the value of the contract signed.