Two weeks ago, I wrote about how Pittsburgh Steelers rookie OC Zach Frazier might ultimately be the team’s last member of their 2024 draft class to sign his first NFL contract. Sure, I really went out on a limb there because at the time of that post, Frazier and OT Troy Fautanu, the team’s first-round selection this year, were the only two remaining members of the draft class yet to sign their rookie deals. Even so, I gave my reasoning for Frazier likely being the last one and it is related to guaranteed money in the third year of his deal. While Frazier has still yet to sign his rookie contract, the West Virginia product ultimately doing so sooner rather than later was likely aided by another second-round selection finally agreeing to terms on Thursday.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network on Thursday, Houston Texans rookie OT Blake Fisher has now signed his rookie contract. On top of that news, Fisher, the 59th overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, is now reportedly the NFL’s first player drafted at slot 27 in the second round to have guaranteed money in year three of his rookie contract, according to Rapoport.
The #Texans have signed their second-round pick OT Blake Fisher, source said. He is the NFL’s first player drafted at slot 27 in Round 2 to have guaranteed money in Year 3.
The deal was negotiated by agents Damarius Bilbo, Nicole Lynn, and Aaron Henderson of @klutchsports.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 30, 2024
That’s big news overall because last year Steelers DT Keeanu Benton, who was the 49th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, was the last pick in the 2023 draft class to get any Year-3 guarantees in his rookie contract. That fully guaranteed amount was $113,332, or 8% of his third-year earnings.
According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC-TV in Houston, Fisher’s newly signed rookie contract includes $55,784, or 4% of his third-year total earnings being fully guaranteed. That’s the bigger picture at this point as that now means that all remaining unsigned draft picks ahead of him are very likely to receive some percentage of their Year-3 money guaranteed.
Blake Fisher #Texans deal: four years $6,595,428 overall
$3,562,252 fully guaranteed (skill, injury, cap)
Signing bonus: $1,616,676
Salaries:
2024: $795,000 (100% gtd)
2025: $1,094,792 (100% gtd)
2026: $1,394,584 (4%; $55,784 gtd)
2027: $1,694,376 @KPRC2 https://t.co/GYVCNFEz4j— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 30, 2024
In short, the line in the proverbial sand seems to have been moved from the 49th overall selection to at least the 59th overall selection. For whatever it’s worth, Baltimore Ravens rookie OT Roger Rosengarten, the 62nd overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, has already signed his first NFL contract and he did not receive any Year-3 guaranteed money as part of that deal.
If you’re keeping score at home, Carolina Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks, the 46th overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, has also already signed his first NFL contract and reportedly 85% of his Year-3 earnings is guaranteed as part of that deal. With Brooks and Fisher now both signed, Frazier is nearly right in the middle of the two.
Could this ultimately result in Frazier’s rookie deal having right around 30-50% of his Year-3 money being fully guaranteed? We’ll see, but that’s certainly a plausible outcome. At the very least, Frazier should wind up with much more than 4% of his Year-3 money being fully guaranteed.
Now, Frazier is still a part of a large group of players drafted 47th through 58th overall who remain unsigned at the time of this post so that does not guarantee that he will ink his rookie contract by the end of OTAs, which is next week. Even so, we could soon start to see a few of those players in that group start to come to terms with their respective teams now that Fisher has signed his deal and the details of it are now known. As more players within that group of 12 players sign their rookie contracts, we should start to get an even better sense as to the percentage of Year-3 guaranteed money that Frazier will have in his deal.
Rookie deals are all slotted so Frazier’s four-year rookie contract should total out at right around $7,544,214 and include a signing bonus of roughly $2,306,700. The first two years of Frazier’s rookie contract are expected to be fully guaranteed and now it seems he’s very likely to have some percentage of Year-3 money fully guaranteed as well. Stay tuned.
