Michael Floyd is still without a team, but that may not be the case for long.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the free-agent wideout who was last with the Patriots has been in conversations with the Vikings and others about a new contract. And Floyd hopes to have said new contract soon.
The timing of Floyd's new deal, whenever he gets one, will be key as far as the Patriots are concerned.
As Pro Football Talk points out, the compensatory pick formula only includes free agent signings (and departures) that happen by May 9. If Floyd does not put pen to paper before then, he won't factor into the 2018 compensatory pick formula -- either for the team he joins or the team he's left.
Just as a reminder: It's unclear exactly how the NFL's compensation pick formula works since the league does not make that information public, but we know the basics.
It's based on free agents lost and free agents acquired in a given year by a particular team. The level of those players is taken into consideration -- based on salary, playing time and other factors -- and then picks are issued to teams who have lost more (or better) free agents than they acquired.
If Floyd were to sign with a team before May 9, and if he were to play a significant percentage of snaps and perform at a relatively consistent level, then the Patriots would be entitled to a compensatory pick in 2018. If the Patriots acquired a free agent this offseason who performed at a level similar to Floyd's, then those two moves may cancel out in the comp pick formula.
New England Patriots
Floyd was waived by the Cardinals in December and was claimed by New England soon thereafter. With the Patriots, he caught four regular-season passes and one pass in the postseason.
The 13th overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, Floyd was a disappointment for four seasons in Arizona, with the Cardinals finally cutting him after a drunk driving arrest in December. The Patriots picked him up at the end of the season and he caught four passes in the last two regular-season games -- including a touchdown against the Dolphins in the season-finale -- then caught one pass in the one postseason game he played. He was inactive for both the AFC title game and the Super Bowl.
During Super Bowl week Floyd told Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran that he hoped to return to New England, but given the team's depth at that spot a reunion looks unlikely.