All but one of the 256 players selected in the 2018 NFL Draft were signed, sealed and delivered to training camp prior to the calendar turning to August. The lone player on the outside looking in is the Bears’ Roquan Smith, who is holding onto a slippery pole of hope for a modicum of change of contract language. In a system tilted heavily toward management, we wish Smith, the 8th overall pick in the draft, luck in his lonely crusade.
Now seven years into a 10-year collective bargaining agreement, the rookie compensation system has settled into a pattern of players signing earlier and earlier, with most contracts done by mid-June and only a rare player every couple of years missing more than a training camp day or two.