The Minnesota Vikings’ rookies are scheduled to report for their first NFL training camp on Sunday at the TCO Performance Center in Eagan, Minnesota.
But two days out, the Vikings’ 2024 first-round picks haven’t signed their contracts. Of the 257 players drafted in April, 254 have agreed to terms. The missing three include Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Alabama linebacker Dallas Turner, who were picked 10th and 17th, respectively, by Minnesota on April 25.
The other draft choice who hasn’t given his rookie deal the OK is Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims, chosen at No. 18 by the Cincinnati Bengals.
The unsigned players’ representatives aren’t haggling with the Vikings over the size or length of their contracts. Their values are predetermined, based on the NFL’s salary cap of $255.4 million for the 2024 season and this year’s rookie compensation pool in a formula spelled out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its players association.
McCarthy is due a four-year, $21.855 million contract. Turner’s deal will be worth $15.767 million over four years. Like all first-round selections, the contracts will include a team option for a fifth season and will be fully guaranteed.
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McCarthy and Turner participated in the Vikings’ offseason program. But training camp involves contract drills, which are prohibited during the offseason work. With the risk of injury higher, players without contracts usually are reluctant to take part.
Rookie holdouts have been rare in the NFL since the 2011 CBA put the draft-pick pay scale into place. So what’s the holdup for the unsigned players?
The Vikings and the players’ representatives haven’t said.
The sticking points to getting rookie deals signed by NFL Draft picks under the current structure usually involve offsets and signing-bonus payments.
An offset in a contract means if a team releases a player while owing him money, it can subtract the salary received from his new team from the amount owed to the player. Players don’t want offset provisions in their contracts because they make more money without it.
By its name, a signing bonus would imply payment when the player signs the contract. But teams aren’t required to pay the full amount at signing, and the especially large signing bonuses of early draft picks typically haven’t been.
For example, last year’s No. 3 pick, Alabama All-American Will Anderson Jr. received 85 percent of his $22.609 million signing bonus within 15 days of signing his contract, then got the rest on Oct. 15.
But that’s been changing for first-round quarterbacks. In 2023, quarterbacks went first, second and fourth in the draft, and all received their signing bonuses in lump-sum payments.
Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams, the No. 1 choice in this year’s draft, agreed on his contract terms with the Chicago Bears this week, and reports indicate he’ll get his full signing bonus of $25.537 million in a single payment.
McCarthy’s contract carries a signing bonus of $12.7 million, Turner’s signing bonus is $8.2 million. Minnesota has not typically fulfilled large signing bonuses in a single payment.
Minnesota’s veteran players are scheduled to report to training camp on Tuesday, with the Vikings’ first full-team practice set for Wednesday.
Minnesota starts its three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Vikings kick off the regular season on Sept. 8 against the New York Giants.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
