Cardinals One of 16 Teams with No Draft Choices Signed
Another example of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the business of the NFL this offseason is reflected in the snail’s pace of contract signings for draft picks.
By this date last year, the Cardinals had signed all of their selections, joining 10 other teams. The Cardinals’ 11 choices were all signed by May 13. An additional seven teams had all but one draft choice signed. Only one team, the Raiders, hadn’t signed any of their picks. They signed their first pick on June 18.
Overall, 178 picks had signed, close to 70 percent. Of those 78, broken down by rounds, it was 19 first-round picks, 23 in the second round, 20 in the third, 27 in the fourth, 29 in the fifth, 30 in the sixth and 30 in the seventh.
Fast forward to now, and the comparison is stunning. With no rookie minicamps or OTAs occurring, and taking physicals problematical, many teams have had little urgency to get deals done, which also means paying out signing bonuses.
The Cardinals are one of 16 teams that haven’t signed any draft picks. New England is the only team to have signed all of their choices (10). League-wide, only 57 draft choices (22.3 percent) have signed and only two were first-round picks: Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Carolina defensive tackle Derrick Brown.
After the first round, there have been six second-round picks signed, seven in the third round, nine in the fourth, nine in the fifth, 16 in the sixth and eight in the seventh.
Other teams that have signed draft choices (second number is the total picks for each team): Baltimore 7/10, Buffalo 6/7, Carolina 1/7, Cleveland 3/7, Detroit 2/9, Green Bay 4/9, Houston 2/5, Indianapolis 7/9, Jacksonville 1/12, Miami 8/11, N.Y. Giants 1/10, N.Y. Jets 1/9, Philadelphia 1/10, Seattle 1/8, Tennessee 2/6.
With the offseason programs scheduled to end June 26, it will be noteworthy to see if rookies are signed and receive those bonuses prior to the start of training camp, assuming they begin at their usual time.
