Signing Records

Even though the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has taken much of the work out of  rookie contract negotiations, I'm still amazed with the rapid signings of the 2013 rookies. Last year was under the new rules. I don't recall a similar signing frenzy through the first week of June. Maybe the teams were still feeling their way through the process. 254 players were drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. 185 of those players now have their first NFL contract signed. That's 72.8% of the rookies officially under contract. Crazy. It's actually higher than that. According to Pro Football Talk, at least four other players, all Oakland Raiders players, have agreed to terms but their information hasn't been passed down the line. That boosts the percentage of signed players up to  a robust 74.4. I'm a little curious about the lag in the financials out of Oakland.

45 of 48 seventh rounders have agreed to contracts. 33 of 38 sixth rounders. 32 of 35 fifth rounders. The only round with less than 54% of the players signed is, of course, the first round. Only six first round picks have agreed to deals. Those are:

#5   Ziggy Ansah DE-Detroit Lions
#11 D.J. Fluker T-San Diego Chargers
#14 Star Lotulelei DT-Carolina Panthers
#15 Kenny Vaccaro S-New Orleans Saints
#17 Jarvis Jones LB-Pittsburgh Steelers
#20 Kyle Long G-Chicago Bears

First round signings, while slow compared to the other rounds, are pretty active in the middle of the round. I'd like to see a mad run on the signing of players from the back third of the first round. The Minnesota Vikings have three that were selected there, #23 Sharrif Floyd , #25 Xavier Rhodes, and #29 Cordarrelle Patterson. Those three are the only Vikings draft picks left unsigned. What's taking so long? The Vikings have traditionally waited until July to even start the negotiation process with any of their draft picks. I never understood the wait. Other teams did the same. It never made sense to me. There were often holdouts. That's never a good statement, especially in the eyes of the veteran players. A rookie too proud to sign? That can't go over well with a 10-year vet. Even when players got to training camp on time many negotiations came down to the last minute. Why add that stress? I'm sure that the impending start of camp was used as a negotiating ploy. The date is there as a deadline but it was always a very soft deadline. Few CBAs are perfect but I really like the early rookie signing aspect of this one. Not only are the signings getting done in a less stressful manner, the outrageous signing bonuses and contracts for players that haven't played a single snap of NFL football are a thing of the past. The second contract should always be the best contract. That's the one that the player actually earns. Most of the time.

For mystifying reasons the St. Louis Rams haven't done a damn thing. They have yet to sign a single draft pick.