Tampa Bay Buccaneers receive a big win just a few days before training camp and they didn't have to lift a finger
After nearly two months of stagnation, a new rookie second-rounder has signed his contract, partially ending the stalemate that before Wednesday had 30 of 32 picks on the verge of missing tangible portions of training camp.San Francisco 49ers rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins signed a four-year, $10.3 million deal and over $9 million is guaranteed. […]
After nearly two months of stagnation, a new rookie second-rounder has signed his contract, partially ending the stalemate that before Wednesday had 30 of 32 picks on the verge of missing tangible portions of training camp.
San Francisco 49ers rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins signed a four-year, $10.3 million deal and over $9 million is guaranteed. It isn't the 100% fully-guaranteed deal akin to what Carson Schwesinger and Jayden Higgins received, but it's a big step in the right direction that not only opens the floodgates for other deals to get done, it sets up a blueprint for them to get done sooner rather than later.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and second-round rookie Benjamin Morrison are one of the teams that picked after Collins was taken at No. 43 overall, so they aren't in the "limbo zone" like the teams that picked 35-42 are. Those teams will likely continue to have trouble reaching deals with their respective rookies because those guys still have an argument and a pathway toward a fully-guaranteed deal.
It's a big win for the Bucs, who now have a legit shot of getting a deal done with Morrison before rookies report to training camp on July 21. Before Wednesday night, there was a chance a deal would get done, but the odds of it happening were much, much smaller than they are, now.
Second-round rookies have been fighting for fully guaranteed deals because Higgins, the 34th overall pick, and Schwesinger, the 33rd overall pick, both received fully-guaranteed deals, which broke the mold, essentially. The Seattle Seahawks and 35th overall pick Nick Emmanwori have been up to bat since May, but they've been unable to figure anything out that would have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the picks.
The fact Collins didn't take a fully-guaranteed deal gives the teams behind him some flexibility when it comes to navigating their own negotiations and they don't have to necessarily wait for the teams in front of them to make a move, anymore. The same goes with the player agents, but obviously, they do things differently than NFL front offices.
Either way, there's a legit chance the Bucs will now have full participation when camp kicks off next week (when talking about healthy players of course). That's a great start for a team with big playoff aspirations heading into 2025.
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