There are six days until the Arizona Cardinals rookies and veterans report to training camp and third-round running back Trey Benson remains unsigned.
That won’t be for long now after the Jets signed wide receiver Malachi Corley late Tuesday. Corley was the first pick of the third round and Benson the second, so the deck is cleared for Benson to sign.
Corley signed a four-year contract worth $6,073,456, including a signing bonus of $1,237,060. The base salaries in the deal are $795,000 this year; $1,031,066 in 2025; $1,307,132 in 2026 and $1,583,198 in 2027.
The third player picked in the round, Commanders offensive lineman Brandon Coleman, received a contract with a total value of $6,058,224 and a $1,225,980 signing bonus. His base salaries are $795,000; $1,030,074 in 2025; $1,305,748 in 2026 and $1,581,122 in 2027.
Each player has workout bonuses of $40,000 in 2025 through 2027 plus a full 2024 split in the deal, which means landing on injured reserve this season would reduce the base salary to $470,000. Other players drafted in the round had higher salaries in the last three years of the contract because there are not offseason workout bonuses included.
Except for the first-year salary, the others are higher than the league minimums, which is true for all third-round choices. From the fourth round on, all deals are for minimum salaries of $795,000; $960,000; $1.075 million and $1.19 million.
Benson’s contract will land in between Corley and Coleman and it can be readily seen that the difference between those two is small: a little more than $15,000 and $11,000 in total value and signing bonus, respectively.
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