The NFL has drama with most of its second-round picks just days before training camps open. With most training camps opening this week or next week, rookies are starting to report, but many second-round picks will not report over contract disputes.
Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Tre Harris did that last week when he became the first official holdout. 30 of 32 second-round picks have yet to sign their deals. Now, players like Harris have taken a stand.
The only two signed are the No. 33 and No. 34 picks in the second round, Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins and Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger. They are the first two picks of the second round, and the Texans and Browns set this all off with those deals.
Both deals are fully guaranteed contracts, and as NFL agents have seen this occur, all second-round draft picks are now holding out to secure guaranteed contracts or a larger portion of guarantees if they were selected later in the round.
That battle will become increasingly public and nasty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers will not be involved in that kerfuffle because they never had a second-round pick. The Steelers traded their second-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for DK Metcalf, who became the team’s top wide receiver.
The Steelers have signed all of their rookies, and unlike other teams, Pittsburgh’s rookies report the same day as the veterans to Latrobe.
Metcalf and the Steelers have also agreed to a five-year, $150 million deal. That is the richest deal in team history, and Metcalf now becomes the bonafide WR1 for the Steelers.
As for the ongoing dispute with second-round rookies, until a team either caves in on the demands or the players band together to hold out and ask for that money, it will stay in a holding pattern.
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