You can now officially call Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, “New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye” after he officially signed his rookie contract on Tuesday.
“The #Patriots have agreed to terms with QB Drake Maye on his rookie deal, source says,” NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo tweeted on Tuesday. “The No. 3 overall pick is under contract.”
As the third overall pick, Maye gets a four-year, $36.6 million deal with a $23.4 million signing bonus.
Signing a rookie contract for first-round picks is mostly a formality in the NFL these days. The players already know their overall salary based on what number pick they were and they all get four years guaranteed with a fifth-year team option. That said, there are still a few things the franchises and the players’ agents must work out, mostly regarding contract language, clauses, and bonus payout schedules in the deal.
While these minor details are important to the player and the team, this process is much easier than it was years ago when the salary was more arbitrary and first-round holdouts were not uncommon.
They do still happen, though. Just last season the No. 5 overall pick, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon missed a few days of training camp as his representatives hammered out the final details of his deal in late July.
Where does the 2024 draft class stand with their contracts?
When Drake Maye signed his rookie contract on May 28, he became the 13th first-round pick from the 2024 NFL Draft to do so.
He joins Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 4) as the only other top-five pick signed so far, and New York Giants WR Malik Nabers (No. 6) and Tennessee Titans offensive tackle JC Latham (No. 7) as the other top-10 rookies to put pen to paper.
The other first-round picks who have signed their deals include:
- Pick No. 11, New York Jets OT Olu Fashanu
- Pick No. 12, Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix
- Pick No. 13, Las Vegas Raiders TE Brock Bowers
- Pick No. 14, New Orleans Saints OT Taliese Fuaga
- Pick No. 15, Indianapolis Colts EDGE Laiatu Latu
- Pick No. 16, Seattle Seahawks DT Byron Murphy
- Pick No. 29, Dallas Cowboys OT Tyler Guyton
- Pick No. 30, Baltimore Ravens CB Nate Wiggins
- Pick No. 32, Carolina Panthers WR Xavier Legette
As per usual with the NFL, the players most worth watching from a contract perspective from the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft are the quarterbacks. Drake Maye and Nix have already signed their rookie contracts, so the Chicago Bears' Caleb Williams, Washington Commanders Jayden Daniels, Atlanta Falcons Michael Penix Jr., and Minnesota Vikings' JJ McCarthy.
Williams and Penix will be the two most interesting cases. Penix is going to a team that just paid Kirk Cousins $180 million with $100 million guaranteed, so it will be intriguing to see if the organization tries to delay Penix's signing bonus payouts at all. As for Williams, there were rumors coming into the draft that he and his camp were interested in breaking the rookie wage scale or asking for an ownership stake in the franchise that drafted him.
Willams and his people ultimately shot these rumors down, but until he signs his name to that rookie contract with the Bears, it will be a situation worth monitoring.
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