Aaron Glenn is in New York on Tuesday with the expectation that the Lions defensive coordinator will become the new head coach of the Jets. If (when?) that happens, the Lions are due some compensatory draft picks for Glenn’s departure.
Thanks to an NFL policy, the Lions would receive a compensatory pick at the end of the third round in the 2025 and 2026 NFL drafts. Those picks generally fall in the 105-110 overall range, though they aren’t officially set until after the NFL awards compensatory picks for net free agency losses later this winter.
The NFL created the compensatory pick program back in 2020 to help encourage teams to allow minority candidates to pursue higher-level jobs with other teams. It’s technically Resolution JC-2a from 2020, which states,
“The employer-club of a minority employee who has been hired by another club as its Head Coach or Primary Football Executive shall receive Draft choice compensation in the form of a compensatory Draft pick in the third round in each of the next two Drafts for an employee hired as either a Head Coach or Primary Football Executive.”
Glenn would be the first instance in which the Lions capitalize on the policy. The pick at the end of the third round would prove a nice boost for Detroit, which traded its third-round pick in 2025 to select offensive lineman Giovanni Manu in the fourth round in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Lions do not currently have a fifth-round pick as well.
