Contract Numbers for Rams' Draft Class
The signing of the Rams’ seven draft picks has left the team with about $500,000 of salary-cap space at the same time they are looking at several veteran linebackers and safeties with training camp about six weeks away.
The Rams used their entire rookie pool allotment of $6,118,616, with first-round picks Tavon Austin ($2,318,364) and Alec Ogletree ($1,278,187) taking up 55.8 percent of the total.
All players received four-year contracts, including Austin and Ogletree, although there were reports they signed five-year deals. In the new rookie signing system, first-round picks receive four-year contracts, although they include a fifth-year option.
Because only the top 51 cap figures count against the overall team cap in the offseason, the entire rookie pool total do not currently count against the cap. Fifth-round picks Brandon McGee ($452,790 cap) and Zac Stacy ($449,125) did not fall in the top 51, and the other five players bumped a like number of players from the top 51. The total current cap charge for the draft picks is just under $3 million.
Austin, the eighth overall choice in the draft, received a deal that totals $12.75 million and includes a signing bonus of $7.65 million. All of his base salaries are guaranteed, and there is no offset language. Many teams try to include offset language, meaning if the player is cut with guaranteed money remaining on the contract, salaries from a contract with a new team would be deducted from the money the original team contracted for.
Ogletree also had no offset language in his deal. Last year, the latest first-round pick with no offset language was Detroit Lions tackle Riley Reiff, who was selected 23rd overall.
Ogletree’s deal is worth $7.03 million and includes a signing bonus of $3.49 million. In addition to his signing bonus, the first three years of base salary totaling $2.17 million are guaranteed. His base salary in 2016 is lower than normal at $675,000, but instead there are two bonuses for that year totaling $688,638. Each is $344,319 and one is due to be paid on the fifth day of the League Year, while the other is a reporting bonus linked to offseason workouts.
While some reports have said that arrangement is unusual for a player selected late in the first round, coincidentally, last year’s 30th pick, San Francisco wide receiver A.J. Jenkins, had a $660,000 salary in the fourth year of his contract, along with a $677,390 roster bonus. The two players selected before and after him -– Minnesota safety Harrison Smith and Tampa Bay running back Doug Martin –- had fourth-year base salaries of more than $1.3 million.
Following is the breakdown of the Rams’ picks:
TOTAL: BONUS: 2013: 2014: 2015: 2016:
Tavon Austin $12,751,002 7,653,456 405,000 984,591 1,564,182 2,143,773
Alec Ogletree 7,030,024 3,492,748 405,000 724,546 1,044,092 675,000
T.J. McDonald 2,926,278 648,000 405,000 518,815 624,426 730,037
Stedman Bailey 2,736,102 527,400 405,000 512,345 601,234 690,123
Barrett Jones 2,605,200 445,200 405,000 495,000 585,000 675,000
Brandon McGee 2,351,160 191,160 405,000 495,000 585,000 675,000
Zac Stacy 2,336,500 176,500 405,000 495,000 585,000 675,000
Cap charges for 2013: Austin, $2,318,364; Ogletree, $1,278,187; McDonald, $567,000; Bailey, $536,850; Jones, $516,300; McGee, $452,790; Stacy, $449,125.
