In between all the exciting FA news yesterday, we saw a handful of Seahawks draft picks signing on with the team. 5-tech DE Lazarius Levingston was first, followed by safety Mark LeGree. There's a reason to hurry with signing rookies since we need to get them into practice as soon as possible, but the new CBA limits the team and agent's flexibility in negotiating contracts (it all happens within narrow bands) and has stronger anti-holdout rules, which basically means the old era of sweating it out waiting for rookies to sign is over and done with. If you're curious to know what the Seahawks will end up paying for their rookies, Brian McIntyre has the numbers, it's between $4.643M and $4.933M.
Today the Washington Post lets us know they spotted six rookies at training camp, out of a total of nine draft picks. The present and thus signed guys are Levingston, LeGree, WR Kris Durham, CB Richard Sherman, DB Byron Maxwell and LB Malcolm Smith. That means our first three picks are unsigned, in OT James Carpenter, OG John Moffitt and LB K.J. Wright. Nothing to worry about yet, but let's hope they sign and join us soon.
Numbers aren't as interesting as they used to be anymore, it's basically pre-determined, but the guaranteed money is worth watching as there is more flexibility there. The Bucs opted to fully guarantee the money for rookie DE Adrian Clayborn, the first fully guaranteed contract since we fully guaranteed the contract of 2nd-overall QB Rick Mirer. Sounds crazy? Well, Clayborn makes only $8.2 million, which is less than the guaranteed money of the player drafted in his slot last year ($10.35 million guaranteed for Kareem Jackson), and it's peanuts for a guy who should be their starting DE for those four years. I'll be very interested in seeing if the Seahawks do something similar with James Carpenter.
Brian McIntyre gives us some numbers: WR Kris Durham signed a 4 year, $2.504M deal with a $464,260 signing bonus. S Mark LeGree signed a 4 year, $2.218M deal with a $178,532 signing bonus.
DK Update: KJ Wright has now signed with the Hawks as well.