At a time when more than two-thirds of the 2018 NFL draft class has signed, the Rams still haven’t signed a draft pick. That’s by design.
The Rams have, for several years, been among the last teams to sign their rookie class. That’s because the Rams first like to spend some time educating their rookies about life in the NFL before paying them life-changing money, which a rookie signing bonus can be.
A few years ago we noted that the Rams do “Financial Planning 101” with rookies, wanting them to have an idea of what to do with their signing bonuses.
Kevin Demoff, the Rams COO, has said he likes to sign players at the end of the offseason program, before the pre-training camp break.
“One of the things that we think is important with that is bringing the rookies in as a group, having them live together as a group, and not having any real differentiation between the first-round pick and the undrafted rookie,” Demoff said. “They’re in the hotel together. They’re eating meals together. They’re doing things together. And then [by the time] they all scatter, we’ll sign their contracts. They’ll leave knowing the contract’s done, so they don’t have to worry about that headache when they go on vacation.”
Expect the Rams’ rookies all to sign at once within the next few weeks.