The last of this year’s 256 draftees who remained unsigned has agreed to terms with his NFL team, according to Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean, who reports (via Twitter) that the Titans have reached an agreement with offensive tackle Taylor Lewan. With training camps opening around the NFL this week, 2014’s entire draft class is now under contract.
Lewan, who turned 23 this week, was the 11th overall pick in May’s draft, and the third tackle to come off the board after Greg Robinson and Jake Matthews. As Jason Fitzgerald’s figures at OverTheCap.com show, Lewan will have an overall four-year value of about $11.485MM on his rookie contract, including a signing bonus worth around $6.673MM. The deal will also include a fifth-year option for 2018.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggested a few weeks ago that the delay on Lewan’s signing may have been a result of the Michigan alum looking to replace his fully-guaranteed base salaries with roster bonuses paid out during training camp. Last year’s 11th overall pick (D.J. Fluker) didn’t receive these bonuses in his deal, but Lewan’s teammate, 2013’s No. 10 pick Chance Warmack, did get them. Considering Lewan is viewed as the Titans’ left tackle of the future, making him a more essential piece on the offensive line than Warmack, he had a reasonable case for those roster bonuses, though it’s not clear yet if he received them.
While Lewan may play left tackle down the line for the Titans, his short-term position is less clear, considering the team still has Michael Roos in place on the left side, and signed Michael Oher to man right tackle.
Why would you want to trade guaranteed salary for money you only get if you are on the roster? I must be missing something
My understanding is that those roster bonuses are ALSO fully guaranteed — so the advantage would be that you get bigger chunks of money up front at the start of the year, rather than in smaller instalments throughout the regular season.
— Luke