The San Francisco 49ers might have signed the first rookie of the entire 2017 NFL draft class. USA Today NFL reporter Tom Pelissero tweeted Wednesday afternoon that the 49ers have agreed to terms with running back Joe Williams, their fourth round pick.
Contracts for a vast majority of rookies are mere formalities following the 2011 collective bargaining agreement. Whereas rookies, particularly first round picks would take longer to get deals done, with a decent amount of holdouts, the 2011 CBA instituted a rookie wage scale. There is some maneuvering on bonuses and offsets, but for the most part, deals get done. Joey Bosa’s holdout last year was a very rare exception to that.
Thanks to the wage scale, our friends at Over The Cap are able to give a specific idea of what the rookie contract will look like. We don’t know about workout and roster bonuses, but we can get close on the signing bonus and base salaries.
Joe Williams will get a four-year deal, like all rookies, and the total sum will be $3,029,064. He gets a $629,384 signing bonus with base salaries of $465,000, $555,000, $645,000, and $735,000. Those are all league minimum salaries. Here is a rundown of everything, minus any potential workout or roster bonuses.
Signing bonus: $629,384
2017 base: $465,000
Cap hit: $622,346
2018 base: $555,000
Cap hit: $712,346
2019 base: $645,000
Cap hit: $802,346
2020 base: $735,000
Cap hit: $892,346