The Tennessee Titans have inked five of their six 2023 NFL draft picks at this point in the offseason, with the one remaining being second-round pick and quarterback, Will Levis.
But Levis is not the only second-round draft pick who remains unsigned, as he joins 13 others who have yet to ink their rookie deals, according to Howard Balzer of GOPHNX.com.
This certainly isn’t rare. As Balzer writes, there were 14 unsigned second-round picks at this point last year.
It hasn’t been confirmed what the holdup is exactly, but one possible explanation could have to do with contract guarantees.
In early June, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made history with his deal, as not only did he secure 85 percent of his signing bonus prior to camp, he also netted a guaranteed amount of $100,000 in his fourth year.
Second of two precedents set by #Seahawks second-rounder Derick Hall: to be paid $3.08 million of his $3.629 million signing bonus (85 percent) prior to training camp, including $2.94 million by June 16, 2023, $144,528 by July 15, 2023 and $545,000 by April 1, 2024. @NSAFootball https://t.co/mP8hMGeGfP
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) June 7, 2023
To compare, Titans 2022 second-round pick, Roger McCreary, has $35,000 of his base salary guaranteed in Year 4.
Again, we can’t say for sure if this is what the holdup is with Levis, but I’d venture to guess he’s looking for something similar to Hall’s deal, and I’d also guess the Titans, like most other teams, aren’t going along with it that easy.
Granted, if Levis pans out to be the franchise quarterback the Titans are hoping for, the team would gladly pay him that much in Year 4.
However, we don’t know if Levis is that guy and the Titans could end up guaranteeing a sizeable chunk of money to a player who, if all goes bad, might not even be on the team in Year 4, something the Titans are very familiar with when it comes to their recent draft picks.
