The Colts could have signed quarterback Andrew Luck from the moment that the coin flips at the Scouting Combine concluded. Now that the card with his name on it has been turned in to the NFL, the process of getting his signature on a contract has begun.
Albert Breer of NFL Network reports that negotiations has commenced, and that the talks aren’t expected to be overly complicated.
Still, it should be at least more complicated than last year, when first-round contracts literally (as opposed to figuratively) were being concluded in five minutes. In 2011, someone leaked the pick-by-pick formula on which the rookie pool was based, which made it difficult for teams and players to deviate from the specific slots. Still, there’s only so much money to go around for each team’s picks, and if one guy gets more than he should, one or more of his new teammates will get less.
It initially was believed that the rookie pool would be lower in 2012 than it was in 2011, for the same reasons that the full salary cap was going to be lower than it was last year. But the rookie pool ultimately was pumped up to a point that it was at least as much as it was the last time around.