On June 10, 2014, one month after the completion of the 2014 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings signed the last of their 10 draft picks. Third-round running back Jerick McKinnon signed yesterday. He was part of a somewhat puzzling logjam of unsigned players that were selected at the bottom of the third-round. The other members of his Vikings draft class had signed a few weeks ago. That's fast. That's really fast for the Vikings. The signing of draft picks have been a breeze throughout the league this year. Well over 80% of the picks have signed and training camps are still over a month away. This has been the most obvious and perhaps best result of the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Rookie contracts are now under control and the players are easily signed. Very nice.
The Minnesota Vikings have routinely waited until July to start signing their draft picks. Even in the previous three years since the new CBA. Often, it seemed that they would wait until a mere two weeks before the players were due to report to training camp to kick off contract negotiations. It was a frustrating practice. Some of the top picks would holdout for a few days. A few days that could probably have been avoided if they had started the negotiations earlier. Although, maybe those missed practices were the needed catalyst for the signing. Fortunately, the Vikings had only one rookie hold out that lasted more than a handful of days. In 2002, tackle Bryant McKinnie skipped all of training camp and about half of the season due to a contract negotiation standoff. Looking back, that holdout was hardly a surprise seeing as McKinnie was pretty much a pain-in-the-ass every moment of his nine-year Vikings career. It's a real shame that he ended up on a Baltimore Ravens team that happened to win a Super Bowl.
It's nice to have the rookies signed so easily. Signing players that have never taken an NFL snap shouldn't be difficult. If their careers evolve as everyone hopes, it's the second contract that should be the most rewarding and demanding. Congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings on getting their draft picks signed by June 10 and thank you for not waiting until July.
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