All but five of the first round pick in April's draft have signed. One of those five is Titans first round pick Kendall Wright. I obviously have no idea what all goes into negotiating an NFL contract, but I really cannot figure out what the delay is. The 19th and 21st pick in the draft have already signed. That would seem to make the parameters of the contract really easy.
The Bears took Shea McClellin with the 19th pick. He signed a 4-year $8.26 million dollar contract with a $4.5 million signing bonus. All four years of the base salary are guaranteed.
The Patriots took Chandler Jones with the 21st pick. He signed a 4-year $8.1 million dollar contract with a $4.4 million signing bonus. His deal is not fully guaranteed. The first three years are, but the fourth is only half guaranteed.
While the NFL doesn't have the same slotting system that the NBA does, it has gotten pretty close with the new CBA. It would seem that contract for Wright would be a 4-year deal worth somewhere around $8.2 million with a signing bonus of $4.5 million.There are a lot of rumors floating around out there about what the problem is. If it really is that the Titans don't want to guarantee the fourth year- why not? It is extremely rare for a player not to play out his rookie contract, so the odds are that they are either going to be paying that fourth year anyway, or they will have signed him to an extension.
There is no reason to worry yet, and the odds are that it will get done in the next couple of days are pretty good, but it sure would be nice for him to be there before the veterans report this weekend.