Texans sign First Rounder

[chrishcovga]

Houston Texans DE/OLB Jason Babin became the first of the 2004 1st round draft picks to sign a contract yesterday.

Babin selected 27th overall became the second Houston Texand first rounder to sign before the other 31 teams in the last 3 drafts. The other of course was David Carr.

Babin was drafted just one spot after Cincinnati's Chris Perry' rb, Michigan - Hopefully this bodes well for signing him and bringing him into camp on time.

here's the link.

http://www.nflfans.com/draft/article.php?s...004062707543447

[schweinhart]

Wonder what Babin got?

If Perry winds up with much more than $950k for a 2004 cap hit, it could mean only 10 and maybe only 9 Bengals picks and CFAs can be signed.

The same # selections last year as the Bengals had this year had a cap total of $193,245 less than the $4.6 mil rookie pool. With the $5k rookie minimum increase, that's going to leave just $140k or so above last year's money to spread across for rookies this year.

[schweinhart]

Tank Johnson #47 signs

Pastabelly

"Complete financial details of the contract were not immediately available, but ESPN.com has learned that agents Brian Mackler and Bill Heck negotiated a $1.725 million signing bonus on a deal thought to include a healthy increase over the commensurate second-round slot from the 2003 draft."

The amount is likely overblown as far as a cap hit. Last year's 47 had a $1.32 mil bonus but the contract was over 4 years -- not 5 like Johnson, whose cap hit for 2004 should be only $20k more at $575k than last year's 47.

That bodes well for Ratliff at 49. Last year's 49 was a $533k 2003 cap hit.

[schweinhart]

The Babin #'s turned out good w/ a 2004 cap hit just $50k more than #27 in 2003 thanks to a 2-tiered signing bonus that splits 2/3 of it in 2004 over 6 years and 1/3 in 2005 over 5 years.

What that means is that if Perry is signed at #26 w/ a 2-tiered bonus, his cap hit should be between $50k and $65k more than #26 in 2003. Between Perry and Ratliff, about $70k more of a 2004 cap hit would affect the rookie pool for draft picks and CFA's.

W/o the 2-tiered signing bonus, the Perry cap hit would be about $100k more than the 2003 #26 based upon a 6-year contract, which would leave about $70k in increases to spread over the picks past Perry and Ratliff, who is projected at $20k more based on Tank Johnson's contract. In other words, w/o the 2-tiered signing bonus, only 9 or 10 rookie could be signed. With it, 10 or 11.

Since no more than 7 rookies should be on the 53-man roster anyways, I am finished w/ this GD subject.

[bengalsfan33]

I've heard that Perry could be signing in the next 2 weeks.

[chrishcovga]

According to the UN-official (official) Bengals fan website Bengals.com which doesn't hold a candle to the OFFICIAL (unofficial) Bengals fan website Bengalszone.com, - Cincinnati has waited till the last minute to address the signings of it's eleven draft picks.

Nothing says preparedness like doing things last minute !