Atlanta Falcons announce draft class signings

The Atlanta Falcons announced they have signed four of their seven picks from the 2019 NFL draft. The only three not yet officially signed are first round picks Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary as well as fourth round pick Kendall Sheffield out of Ohio State.

Since the rookie pay scale was instituted before the 2013 NFL draft, it could take months to get your draft picks signed and into your building. Agents were waiting for the higher picks to sign before negotiating for their players, no different than free agency where your elite guys are waiting for someone else to set the market so that they did not leave any money on the table.

Thankfully, teams and fans usually do not have to watch unnecessary drama to unfold; most rookies are signed within the first month of being drafted. The Falcons 2019 draft class is going to be counted on very early and the front office wants to get these guys in house as fast as possible. Most rookies are not willing to work in good faith like Vic Beasley did in 2015 when he showed up and participated in rookie minicamp and minicamp before signing his deal. Beasley did not officially sign his rookie deal until nearly six weeks after he was drafted.

According to Spottrac, the slotted money for each of the Falcons draft picks are as follows:

• Chris Lindstrom: $14.663 million with $8.6 million bonus
• Kaleb McGary: $10.2 million with a $5.4 million bonus
• Kendall Sheffield: $3.2 million with a $729,000 bonus
• John Cominsky: $2.8 million with a $326,000 bonus
• Qadree Ollison: $2.8 million with a $295,000 bonus
• Jordan Miller: $2.6 million with a $178,000 bonus
• Marcus Green: $2.6 million with a $100,000 bonus

Neither the Falcons have released actual contract numbers, so it will be interesting to see how much higher or lower they went in order to sign their entire 2019 rookie class.