The frenzy of the 2024 NFL Draft has quieted down after a weekend where HBCU football didn’t have any players taken during the seven rounds of the draft but did have several players sign undrafted free agent (UDFA) contracts after, with even more receiving invites to NFL rookie minicamps in May.
When you take a deep dive into the NFL Draft, you can see how complex of a process it is. The selection of a player sets off a chain reaction of events that determine what type of investment a team is willing to put into evaluating that player to become part of the final 53-man roster or the 16-player practice squad.
A team’s first investment is whether to take a player in the draft, sign them as an undrafted free agent, or invite them to a rookie minicamp. The second investment is the contract details and size of the signing bonus.
In 2011 the rookie wage scale was introduced as part of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, this is a tiered pay structure agreed upon between the NFL Players Association and the NFL owners that sets parameters on how much a team can pay rookies based on where they were selected in the NFL Draft.
2024 HBCU FOOTBALL UDFA CLASS
Undrafted free agents usually sign contracts for the NFL annual minimum of $750,000. However, unlike the rookie pay scale for drafted players, the terms and amounts of these agreements can be negotiated and rests solely with the team that signs the undrafted free agent.
The last investment tier is inviting a player to rookie minicamp. Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, players invited to minicamp receive a per-diem for every day of camp. First-year players received $1,700 in 2023, and returning players got $2,900.
The biggest bargaining chip on the table for undrafted free agents is the signing bonus. With multiple teams often vying for the same player, the size of the guaranteed signing bonus is where a team shows how much they are willing to invest in bringing a player in for training camp.
NFL Insider, Aaron Wilson used his Twitter feed to provide insight into the complexities of the undrafted free agent contract and details on the signing bonuses for some of the 2024 HBCU football UDFA class.
Wilson reported that former Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M wide receiver Marcus Riley was getting a three-year, $2.83 million undrafted deal with the New York Jets.
There was no information on how much was in the signing bonus or a breakdown of exactly how much money is guaranteed but an undrafted contract of that size shows that the Jets wanted to make sure Riley didn’t slip through their fingers to another team.
Former Alabama State cornerback Mikey Victor reportedly received a $3,000 signing bonus with his contract, While Grambling standout Edge rusher Sundiata Anderson got a $10,000 signing bonus with $100,000 in base salary for a guaranteed $110,000 in total guarantees to get him in training camp for a shot at making the final roster or practice squad.
The 2024 NFL rookie minicamps are set to begin between May 3-6 or May 10-13. NFL teams can choose either set of dates to select for their three-day camp.