Negotiating For Dummies: What Pats' Rookies Should Expect At The Bargaining Table

As of Sunday, the Patriots have signed one of their 12 draft picks -- fourth-rounder Rich Ohrnberger officially agreed to a four-year, $2.2 million contract with New England on June 16. But each of the other 11 has hit the traditional “dead period” of the NFL calendar without a deal.

This is not an issue -- even with training camps just over a month away, many teams have yet to sign a single player, and most of the other 31 teams have been slow to agree to contracts with their draft picks. (The only team that had more than five picks this past April that has signed all of their draftees is Chicago, who’s gotten all nine of its picks to sign.)

But what do some of New England’s draftees have in store when their agent sits down at the table with the Patriots? Thanks to Mac’s Football Blog, a quick check of the market reveals what they could be in for. No second-round picks have signed yet, so there are no comparable contracts for New England’s four second-round draftees -- Patrick Chung, Ron Brace, Darius Butler and Sebastian Vollmer. However, there are already some similar deals in place for most of the eight other picks, contracts that can give us a relative sense of how much each of New England’s draftees could be in line to make.

While you read this list, it’s important to remember that these numbers shouldn’t be taken as gospel when comparing them to each New England pick -- each team’s personnel situation and salary structure are different. (We tried to provide a suitable comparison for the player in terms of draft position and on-field position.) But it does provide us with a general idea of the numbers they’ll be kicking around at the bargaining table.

Wide receiver Brandon Tate (third round, 83rd overall pick)
Baltimore chose cornerback Lardarius Webb out of Nicholls State with the 88th pick overall -- five spots after the Pats took Tate -- and gave him a three-year, $1.714 million deal with a signing bonus of $529,500. (Tate may be an exception -- he injured his knee late in his senior season at North Carolina. As a result, Tate’s deal will likely be structured differently than most players taken at the same spot.)

Linebacker Tyrone McKenzie (third round, 97th overall pick)
Chicago took wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias out of Oklahoma at No. 99 overall, two picks after New England selected McKenzie out of South Florida. Iglesias recently received a four-year deal worth $2.369 million with a signing bonus of $500,000. (Like Tate, McKenzie's contract may be altered because of injury -- he hurt his knee in rookie minicamp and will likely be sidelined for the season.)

Guard Rich Ohrnberger (fourth round, 123rd overall pick)
The Penn State product was the first of the 12 New England picks to sign -- he agreed to a four-year, $2.2 million deal. That sounds about right for that neighborhood, especially when you consider tight end Anthony Hill was selected by Houston out of North Carolina State at No. 122, and recently signed a four-year contract worth $2.2065 million with a $456,500 signing bonus with the Texans.

Offensive tackle George Bussey (fifth round, 170th overall pick)
Moving from the fourth to the fifth round, we see overall contracts start to dip under $2 million in total worth, and signing bonuses start to head downward to the $100,000 mark. Louisville’s Bussey will likely expect something in the range of what guard Herman Johnson received from Arizona -- the LSU product, who was taken three picks in front of Bussey, inked a three-year, $1.303 million deal with the Cardinals that includes a $118,000 signing bonus.

Long snapper Jacob Ingram (sixth round, 198th overall pick)
Between the fifth and the sixth round is where signing bonuses go from six figures to five. Ingram, drafted out of Hawaii, may be a bit of an anomaly because he is a long snapper, but a player selected six picks after him -- linebacker Will Davis out of Illinois -- signed a three-year, $1.251 million contract with Arizona, which came with a $66,000 signing bonus.

Defensive tackle Myron Pryor (sixth round, 207th overall pick)
The Kentucky product was one of three defensive linemen taken from the 205th spot to 210th spot. Two picks before Pryor, Pittsburgh drafted defensive lineman Ra’Shon Harris out of Oregon, and he recently landed a three-year, $1.249 deal with a $64,000 signing bonus. At No. 210, Atlanta took defensive tackle Vance Walker out of Georgia Tech, and he has signed a four-year contract worth $1.81 million with a signing bonus of $66,725.

Wide receiver Julian Edelman (seventh round, 232nd overall pick)
Edelman’s skill set is unique -- a Wildcat-style quarterback at Kent State, he lined up at wide receiver and returner during minicamp and the OTAs. But his agent Carter Chow might use the contract of fellow rookie Moise Fokou as a starting point in their negotiations with the Patriots. Fokou, a linebacker out of Maryland, was taken two spots ahead of Edelman by Philadelphia, and recently received a four-year, $1.797 million contract with a $47,000 signing bonus.

Defensive tackle Darryl Richard (seventh round, 234th overall)
Many seventh-rounders in the Bill Belichick Era haven’t enjoyed immediate success in Foxborough, but have gone on eventually to have an impact with the Patriots -- it’s a group that includes Matt Cassel, David Givens, and Tully Banta-Cain. Those players haven’t always signed the biggest deal their first time out, but all three managed to cash in big with their second contract. However, Richard’s starting point is still pretty impressive -- LSU defensive end Ricky Jean-Francois was taken 10 spots after the Georgia Tech product by San Francisco this past April, and signed a four-year contract with the 49ers worth $1.793 million, complete with a $43,000 signing bonus.