Rookie's Contract Causes NFL Chaos

A rookie contract in Houston has upended the NFL's off-season, but the twist is that the controversy involves players drafted in the second round, not the first. The details:

• The Houston Texans signed second-round pick Jayden Higgins to a four-year contract for $11.7 million. The unusual part is that all four years of the contract are guaranteed, reports the Wall Street Journal.
• Typically, rookies drafted in the second round sign four-year deals, but only two or three years of that money is guaranteed, explains the Houston Chronicle. Higgins' contract, then, seems to have set a new precedent. He is a wide receiver who was picked 34th overall.

• The fallout is remarkable: Nearly every second-rounder from this year's draft—30 out of 32—remains unsigned because they are holding out for the same deal, per Heavy Sports. The only other second-round pick to sign so far, Cleveland's Carson Schwesinger, got a fully guaranteed contract the day after Higgins signed his deal. Schwesinger was selected with the 33rd pick.
• Front offices are digging in, as are player agents, even though the Journal notes that the money at stake is not huge by NFL standards: a few hundred thousand dollars per player in some cases. But it does matter: The numbers from 2011 to 2021 show that about 25% of second-round picks didn't make it all the way through four seasons.