The Pittsburgh Steelers selected OT Troy Fautanu out of Washington at 20th overall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night. With that pick now made, we can take a quick look ahead at what his rookie contract is likely to look like.
According to estimations from Over the Cap, Fautanu’s rookie contract is expected to total out at around $15,055,286 and be fully guaranteed over four years. The deal should include a signing bonus of around $7,769,300. His 2024 cap charge should be around $2,737,325. The cap charges for Fautanu for 2025, 2026 and 2027 are expected to come in at around $3,421,656, $4,105,987, and $4,790,318, respectively. These numbers might not be exactly correct, but they should be really close. The deal will obviously include a fifth-year option for the 2028 season.
Now that we know the rough details associated with Fautanu’s rookie contract, when should we expect him to sign it? That’s really hard to answer overall. Last year, Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the 20th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, signed his four-year contract worth $14,417,308 on May 11, 2023. That contract was also fully guaranteed. Even so, there is no guarantee that Fautanu will sign his rookie contract that early this year because of signing bonus payout negotiations.
Last year, OT Broderick Jones, the Steelers first round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft at 14th overall, didn’t sign his four-year contract worth $16,626,364 until June 22. Speculation at the time was that his delayed signing was due to the two sides haggling over the timeframe of the signing bonus payout. The Steelers reportedly usually prefer to pay 75-85 percent of the signing bonus within 15 days of signing and then the rest in October for their first-round draft picks. We don’t, however, know for sure if that was the reason for the holdup and even if it was, what the final timeframe of payout details were.
Regardless of how long it takes for Fautanu to sign his rookie contract, it’s hard to imagine him not having it finalized before the Steelers report to training camp in late July. There’s really not too much to haggle about other than payout timeframes.
