Five first-round picks remain unsigned. The Bears have two and the Vikings have two.
As to quarterback J.J. McCarthy, a source with knowledge of the situation says that the Vikings haven’t engaged much when it comes to negotiating the contract.
One possible explanation is that the Vikings want to see what happens with the Caleb Williams contract before finalizing things with McCarthy, the tenth overall pick. If the unverified social-media chatter that McCarthy wants his full signing bonus right away is accurate, that would make sense. If Williams doesn’t get his full signing bonus right away as the first overall selection, it’s easier to tell McCarthy that, at most, he’ll get the same payment schedule that Williams received.
With the contracts for draft picks slotted as to value, there are three major issues for haggling: (1) signing bonus cash flow; (2) language to void remaining guarantees; (3) offset language as to the remaining guarantees.
In addition to Williams and McCarthy, Bears receiver Rome Odunze, Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner, and Bengals tackle Amarius Sims are the other unsigned first-round picks.
For all first-round picks, the four-year rookie deal is fully guaranteed.
The Bears rookies report for training camp today. The Vikings’ rookies report on Saturday, July 21.