There’s a new trend going around the NFL and it started in Houston. Rookie contracts in the NFL are assigned compensation based on the draft pick used. The first overall selection gets a four year, $48 million contract and it tapers down from there. However, the one area team’s get to negotiate is on the guarantees. That is where the Miami Dolphins are having trouble finding common ground with their second round pick and projected day one starter, Jonah Savaiinaea.
Savaiinaea was selected with the 37th overall pick and his contract, when signed, will be a four year deal worth $11.3 million with a $4.9 million signing bonus. The reason he remains unsigned, however, can be traced back to the Houston Texans. The Texans have flipped the league on it’s head when they made NFL history by making Jayden Higgins the first second round pick to ever have his rookie contract fully guaranteed.
The Cleveland Browns quickly followed suit, signing and guaranteeing the 33rd overall selection Carson Schwesinger’s contract in the days following. But for the 30 remaining second round selections, not a single one has put pen to paper. In fact, as of two weeks ago, an overwhelming majority of all unsigned draftees hailed from the second round.
“Because the money in rookie contracts is set per the CBA, the only negotiating points with draft picks basically involve guarantees and offset money — and it’s probably not a coincidence that more than half of the 52 unsigned draft picks (30) as of Monday morning were second-round selections,” wrote SI’s Alain Poupart.
Where Does It End?
For me, this trend begs the question where does it end? So far, the only two second rounders that have signed have been the first two selections from the round. Fair enough right? You are two spots removed from a first round draft pick why shouldn’t you be awarded the same luxuries.
But what about the 42nd? The 53rd? 64th?
What team will be the first to say this has gone far enough and downright refuse to budge on the first round demands?
“I think you’re going to see some teams at the top of the second round just go ‘Yeah we’ll give you a guaranteed contract cus we really think you’re a first round pick even though even though we got you here early on in the second round’.” explained Chris Simms on Pro Football Talk Live. “But I don’t know where that stops. Who is the team that’s going to stop it…”
Simms then joked that he wanted to find out where the famously stingy Cincinnati Bengals picked in the second round, claiming that they would be the team to stop the trend. However, he doesn’t see this trend making its way to the second half of the round (pick 49).
Savaiinaea Reported For OTAs
Despite remaining unsigned, the projected day one starter was present for the first session of OTAs. The hard deadline for when agreements need to be reached is training camp. Last year, training camp kicked off on July 28th. Rookies typically report a week prior to this date, so I expect the first week of July should be considered a ball park deadline for Savaiinaea’s camp.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Here’s Why Dolphins’ Second Round Draft Pick Refuses To Sign, Troubling NFL Trend appeared first on Heavy Sports.