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The NFL hasn’t faced an offseason like this often, so it isn’t too shocking the Cincinnati Bengals haven’t signed any of the Joe Burrow-led rookie class just yet.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of starting to worry about it as the end of June nears and headlines about other teams signing rookies here and there start to pop up.
But the “here and there” distinction is important. No team has nailed down an entire rookie class and when zooming out to all 32 teams, only about 30 percent of the rookie class has put ink to paper so far.
As things stand traditionally, the rookie wage scale borderline guarantees rookies are signed and on the field over the summer. There have been rare exceptions — and inking a No. 1 pick is a littler trickier than most due to language in the deal.
But is there any reason for concern about the Bengals? Hardly. Camps don’t have a cemented start date and the exact protocols for those camps haven’t been outlined. We don’t even know if the season will start on time and players still aren’t allowed at team facilities, meaning no team-based physicals and checkups, which in turn means no signing contracts.
The silver lining on the holdup here? The Bengals aren’t likely to goof around with the contractual process when it comes to Burrow and others. This rookie class has missed enough valuable on field-work already as is, so it’s hard to see the front office and coaches letting that extend via messy holdouts once things get back to normal.
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