In the NFL draft, the Buffalo Bills wanted South Carolina Gamecocks defensive tackle T.J. Sanders so badly, they traded their way up the board to grab him. The Bills swapped the 56th, 62nd and 109th picks with the Chicago Bears to move up to the No. 41 spot where they could select Sanders before the New York Jets, the Bills divisional rival, could get a crack at him.
Now the draft is six weeks in the rear view mirror, Bills mandatory minicamp starts on Tuesday — and Sanders still has not signed his contract. Why not?
It doesn’t seem to be a lack of desire on Sanders’ part. When he was asked after the draft what it meant to him that Buffalo traded away three picks to obtain him, the 21-year-old said that he felt he needed to “repay” the organization.
“If an organization believes in you like that, to be able to trade up to get you, you gotta repay that. Work your b*** off every day,” the six-foot-four, 290-pound pass rusher said at the time.
Sanders Wants to Play, So What’s the Holdup?
So what’s going on with his contract? The Bills have not said anything publicly about why they have not been able to secure Sanders’ signature on the dotted line, but way back on May 9, they announced the signings of six other draft picks from this year’s class.
But there have been rumblings around the league involving other second-round picks who have not yet signed that probably give a good indication of what is happening with Sanders’ contract negotiations.
In fact, according to information compiled by The Football Database, as of June 2, none of the second round picks had signed contracts.
Except for two. And that appears to be the problem.
“All but two second-round draft picks remain unsigned — and those two signings might be to blame for the second-round backlog,” explained Jon Heath of USA Today Broncoswire, in a report on why Denver has also so far failed to sign its own second-round pick, former UCF Knights running back RJ Harvey. “Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger and Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins — the top two picks in the second round — both received fully guaranteed contracts.”
Browns, Texans Spoil it For Everyone Else
Fully guaranteed rookie contracts have generally been reserved for first-round picks, and giving those guarantees to second-rounders has been “a rarity,” according to ESPN NFL insider Mike Reiss.
Reiss covers the New England Patriots for ESPN, and wrote about the issue because the six-time Super Bowl champs have yet to sign their own second-rounder, former Ohio State running back TreVeon Henderson.
“All the agents were like, ‘Hey, they did it. We want to do it,’” award-winning, 40-year NFL reporter John McClain told a Las Vegas Raiders podcast. The Raiders are yet another team still waiting to sign their second-round selection, former TCU wide receiver Jack Bech. “They did it for one, you can do it for all, so everybody that’s struggling to get their second-round pick signed should blame Nick Caserio, the Texans general manager.”
The Los Angeles Rams took Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson in the second-round, and have not come to terms with that player either, according to USA Today Ramswire writer Cameron DaSilva.
“The Rams likely won’t budge on this unless every other team follows the Texans’ and Browns’ lead,” DaSilva wrote.
Like 30 other teams, the Bills appear to simply be waiting for the dam to break on the fully guaranteed contract issue for second rounders. Until then, Bills fans can direct their irritation at the Browns and Texans for creating this impasse.
