Which teams do (or do not) accumulate draft capital?

Obviously, bad teams will have more draft capital and winners will have less, but teams don't stand still and teams have different approaches on valuing draft capital. Here will provide some visualization to which teams add the most draft capital, either through player trades, managing the compensatory pick game, or trade downs as well as which teams lose the most draft capital through trades.

Most teams fluctuate between gaining or losing draft capital, but there are some themes:

Trading for a star: Surprisingly some of the biggest hits to draft capital come from not QB trade ups, but trading for stars

• HOU 2019 - Traded two future 1sts and a 2nd for OT Laremy Tunsil, a total draft capital loss equivalent to picks 1 overall, 40, and 49
• MIA 2022 - Multiple non-QB trades, sending a future 1st to PHI to move up for Jaylen Waddle, sending a 1st, 2nd, two 4ths, and a 6th for Tyreek Hill, trading a 1st for Bradley Chubb, and the comparatively cheap 3rd send for Jalen Ramsey. These and a few other smaller moves put a two year hole in their draft capital totalling 287 draft capital points, equivalent to picks 1, 1, and 12

Acquiring a QB: The obvious one, when teams make a move up in the draft or for a starting veteran QB, the price is usually steep

• SFO 2021 - Three 1sts and a 3rd were sent to move up for Trey Lance, putting them at the 8th worst in the league in amount of draft capital lost over the 2020-24 period
• CLE 2022 - The poster-child for bad trades, they sent three 1sts, a 3rd, and two 4ths for DeShaun Watson totalling a massive 207 points of draft value, slightly more than two overall pick 1s in the draft and worst in the league in amount of draft capital lost
• DEN 2022 - Two 1sts and two 2nds were sent for Russell Wilson. Add in the 1st and 2nd they sent in the "trade" for head coach Sean Payton and the Broncos were 2nd worst in the league in draft capital lost

Methodically acquiring capital: Few teams appear to methodically acquire draft capital year after year but there are a couple that have done so recently

• JAX - First in the league over the past 5 years in draft capital added, the Jaguars have often traded down or sent players for day 3 picks
• GB - The Packers are 2nd in draft capital added but primarily did so by trading stars they weren't going to pay like Aaron Rodgers and DaVante Adams

Quantifying teams gains and losses

I'm using the surplus value draft value chart here which gives the frst overall pick a value of 100 and decreases from there (pick 33 is 66 points of draft capital, pick 64 is 42, pick 100 is 28, and so on until pick 255 bottoms at 7 points. But to give context to how much teams have added or lost through trades vs. their expected draft capital, the below shows the average annual draft capital gain or loss and the equivalent pick of that value.

For example, in 2023 Arizona moved up to 3 for Will Anderson, sending picks 12, 33, and a future 1st and 3rd to Houston. Across the 2023-24 period, Arizona gained 85 points of draft capital value, adding the equivalent value of pick 14 in the draft. Note, this doesn't mean they actually got pick 14, just that they got the equivalent value of pick 14 across the two picks they received in return.