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Why 49ers Rookie Alfred Collins Still Hasn't Signed his Contract

When Alfred Collins sat out of rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp, the 49ers said he had a calf injury that he reaggravated at his Pro Day before the NFL Draft. And that's probably true.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 21, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive lineman Alfred Collins (95) against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Dec 21, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive lineman Alfred Collins (95) against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

When Alfred Collins sat out of rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp, the 49ers said he had a calf injury that he reaggravated at his Pro Day before the NFL Draft. And that's probably true.

But there's another reason Collins didn't do anything with the 49ers this offseason -- he still hasn't signed his contract. Meanwhile, every other player the 49ers drafted has signed their contract. So what's the deal with Collins?

Keep in mind, Collins was a second-round pick this year. And as of now, only two second-round picks have signed their contracts -- Jayden Higgins and Carson Schwesinger, the top two picks of Round 2. Each signed a fully guaranteed deal, which is unprecedented for a second-round pick. In the past, only first-round picks got fully guaranteed deals. Now, all the second-round picks, including Collins, want fully guaranteed contracts as well. And 30 NFL teams must decide what to do.

The 49ers probably want to wait and see what other teams do with their second-round picks before deciding on Collins. If the rest of the teams start giving out fully-guaranteed deals, the 49ers will have no choice but to follow suit. But if these rookies start to cave as camp rolls around and they sign the deals that have been offered to them, the 49ers might hold firm.

Either way, the 49ers need Collins on the field for all of training camp because they're counting on him to start Week 1 against the Seahawks. He can't afford to miss any more practices.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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