With the Detroit Lions rookie mini-camp beginning on Friday, the team has begun signing their 2019 rookie class. While signing isn’t a requirement to attend the camp, the team has already inked three players — T.J. Hockenson, Jahlani Tavai and Amani Oruwariye — to their rookie contracts.
Official numbers haven’t been released yet but based on the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) we can get a general idea of what those contracts may look like. OverTheCap (OTC) takes things a step further and has created an estimated rookie wage scale of what each player’s 2019 salary cap hit could be.
As a first-round pick, Hockenson has a four-year contract with a fifth-year team option, and an OTC estimated cap hit of $3,603,860 for the 2019 season.
All picks in the second to seventh-round range all have four-year contracts with no fifth-year option. Tavai, the Lions second-rounder, has a contract for the 2019 season estimated at $1,253,448 by OTC. As a fifth-rounder, Oruwariye’s contract checks in at $575,833 based on OTC’s calculations.
Over the next few days, the Lions will continue to work on rookie contracts while conducting their rookie mini-camp and more contracts are expected to be announced. By the end of the weekend and after the conclusion of the camp, the Lions will likely finalize their undrafted rookie contracts and will announce the remaining players who will fill out their 90-man roster.
