The increased pace of draft-pick signings serves only to make more conspicuous those who remain unsigned.
We listed the 32 names last night, with 14 of them in round one, including each of the top eight picks. And while training camps will be opening in fewer than three weeks, it’s too early to panic with respect to the players who haven’t signed.
John McClain of the Houston Chronicle explained on Friday’s PFT Live that the Texans’ two unsigned third-round picks (receiver DeVier Posey and guard Brandon Brooks) don’t have contracts because the folks in the organization who would be negotiating the contracts are on vacation.
That’s true for most of the teams right now, which means that it’s unlikely that many deals will be done before next week, at the very earliest.
Last year, the new CBA widely was characterized as allowing these deals to be done in literally five minutes. That theory could be tested this year, because for some of these players there could be literally only five minutes left, once the teams get around to focusing on the remaining picks who haven’t signed.
That said, roughly 10 of the first-round picks are in a stare-down based on esoteric issues relating to guaranteed money and offsets. At some point, someone will needs to blink.
There’s a chance, in theory, that the blinking won’t happen until training camps have opened.