ATLANTA UPSET WITH NFL'S RULING ON COMPENSATION DRAFT PICKS

     The NFL's Management Council has approved a measure that
will "preclude teams from receiving" 1st or 2nd-round draft
choices in '95 as compensation for net losses in the '94 free
agent market.  Falcons owner Rankin Smith is "angered by a
unilateral decision he labeled 'a bombshell.'"  The Falcons
figure to be among the biggest losers in the policy switch.  The
Falcons were one of the NFL's most "aggressive teams in free
agency," but at the same time, they lost high-profile players
like Deion Sanders, Chris Hinton, Michael Haynes and Chris
Miller.  Smith figures his team would receive an extra 1st- or
2nd-round pick for the losses.  Equally upset by the ruling were
team officials from Buffalo and Houston.  The NFL began adding
compensatory picks to teams who lost significant players to free
agency in '93 (Len Pasquarelli, ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 9/30).