Acme Packing Company
30 of the NFL’s 32 2nd-round picks are still unsigned as rookies start to report for training camp.
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Chargers’ rookies reported for training camp. This might seem a little early to Green Bay Packers fans, whose team starts camp on the 23rd, but the Chargers get extra time on the front end because they’ll be participating in the Hall of Fame Game that kicks off on July 31st against the Detroit Lions.
Three weeks ago, we wrote about how 30 of the 32 second-round picks selected in April’s draft have yet to sign with their teams. As of now, there has been absolutely zero movement on that front over the last 20 days.
That’s why today’s news, that Chargers second-round pick Tre Harris is holding out, is likely a preview of what is to come. Harris, a receiver, had participated with Los Angeles during the offseason, but is holding out due to guarantees in his contract.
The Houston Texans made the decision to fully guarantee the contract of second-round receiver Jayden Higgins, who was picked with the second pick of that round. Since then, the question of how many second-round picks will receive fully guaranteed contracts remains unanswered. The Cleveland Browns owned the first pick of that round and wound up giving a fully guaranteed deal to linebacker Carson Schwesigner, but haven’t handed over the same deal to running back Quinshon Judkins, who remains unsigned after being the fourth pick in the second round. To complicate matters further, Judkins was arrested and charged with domestic violence this week, which likely means that his contract situation will drag out even longer.
So why are guarantees such a big deal? First of all, players’ rookie contracts are locked in, from a value standpoint, based on the rookie wage scale, which was first agreed to during the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement. All other portions of their contracts, though, like how much of that money is guaranteed or the type of clauses in their contracts, can be debated between the franchise that selected them and the player’s representation.
For perspective, 2024 Packers second-round pick Javon Bullard received $3.7 million in guarantees on his $6.7 million four-year contract last offseason. That’s dwarfed by Higgins’ $11.7 million in guarantees he got from Houston.
So you can see why players aren’t willing to take multi-million dollar risks to practice in training camp without having a contract in hand. Eventually, someone has to make some movement in the market so players can report. No one wants to sign for less guaranteed money than the person ahead of them, so it has to start toward the top of the second-rounder list.
With that in mind, here are a couple of key players’ situations that are worth following:
