NFL rookies agree to big deals
The top-three draft picks in this year’s NFL draft are all signed, sealed and delivered and are all ready to take on the new season, but at a cost to their teams.
The No.1 overall pick, Sam Bradford, signed a six-year $78million deal with the St Louis Rams and received $50million in guaranteed money. That deal can reportedly rise to $86million. Third overall pick Gerald McCoy agreed a five-year deal with his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McCoy’s deal is worth $63.42million with $35million of that guaranteed.
Now, the second overall pick, Ndamukong Suh, has agreed to a five-year $60million contract with the Detroit Lions that guarantees him $40million.
Suh’s deal has yet to be finalised and won’t be until the technicalities in the contract are completed and signed off on. While negotiating his contract, Suh missed the first four days of practice, something his coach isn’t particularly pleased with.
"We have six days in shoulder pads and we have six full-padded practices in training camp. And we've already finished two of those shoulder-pads practices. Those are opportunities that, once they're gone, they're gone forever. You're not getting them back... That's the disappointing thing from his standpoint. That's work that you can't get back there,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said on Monday.
Once Suh’s contract is made official it will take the total amount of guaranteed money to the top-three picks to $125million, something that could be very dangerous for the clubs involved. The Oakland Raiders drafted JaMarcus Russell as the first overall pick in 2007 and gave him a six-year contract with $31.5million guaranteed.
In May 2010 the Raiders released Russell after starting just 31 games in three seasons and was paid more than $36 million over that time. The Lions, Rams and Bucs might want to make sure their picks don’t go off the rail.
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