Saints sign four draft picks to their rookie deals

The New Orleans Saints have signed four of their draft picks to their rookie deals.

Trey Hendrickson, Alex Anzalone, Marcus Williams and Al-Quadin Muhammad all signed their rookie deals on Thursday.

Details of each contract are still under closed cover. But each will earn a relatively set amount relative to their draft spot. And each of the above-mentioned contracts will extend through the 2020 season. The same isn’t true for the Saints’ first-round picks, who’s contracts will extend through 2021.

While most teams had signed their draft picks weeks ago, the Saints had to wait for Jairus Byrd’s contract to come off the books. Because they designated him as a Post June 1st cut, his $8M in dead money owed spreads out over two years. They’ll still pay him $4M in each 2017 and 2018, but he saves them $7.8M against this cap in 2017. That money will cover every rookie deal.

The Saints are still waiting on Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk to complete their rookie deals. But reports are that Ramczyk will have to wait until he can pass his physical to sign his deal. If complications arise in his medicals, it could change how the Saints approach his contract. But expectations are that Ramczyk is ahead of schedule and that he’ll pass his physical comfortably.

Beyond that, Kamara will likely be the next brick in the wall. Lattimore’s contract, because he was a first round pick, includes a fifth-year team option. Ramczyk’s contract is the same. That’ll take some more time to parse through, and on top of that, the money going into those first-round contracts is substantially higher. Lattimore’s contract, for example, projects around $15M. Ramczyk, still a first-round pick, projects to land around $8M.