Report: Guaranteed dollars stalling Jabrill Peppers contract
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns and safety Jabrill Peppers have not worked out a rookie contract, which may be due to a difference over the amount of guaranteed money.
The Cleveland Browns selected 10 players in the 2017 NFL Draft and nine of them have signed their rookie contracts.
The first round of the draft saw 32 players selected in total, and 25 of those players have signed their rookie deals.
There is one unsigned player that falls in both categories, at least as far as the Browns are concerned, and that is safety Jabrill Peppers, one of three first-round selections by the Browns and the 25th overall pick on the draft.
It has been a slow grind for the Browns and Peppers’ representatives to reach a deal, and the hangup maybe over the amount of guaranteed money in the contract, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who cites unnamed sources in an attempt to unravel the mystery:
"Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, the amount of the guaranteed money is one of the primary terms holding up the deal. A fairly broad range has been set by the players taken at No. 26 (Falcons defensive end Tak McKinley) and at No. 23 (Giants tight end Evan Engram), with full guarantees for the first three years and a fourth-year guarantee of $655,000 for McKinley and $1.55 million for Engram. That’s a $900,000 spread in fourth-year guaranteed money over three picks; without the benefit of Gareon Conley being under contract, Peppers doesn’t have a direct, practical ceiling on his guaranteed money."
Peppers not being under contract has given some Browns fans agita as the fear the possibility of a holdout. That is certainly a possibility as Peppers is represented by CAA, the same agency that orchestrated Joey Bosa’s holdout against the San Diego Chargers last summer.
Related Story: Browns may want to slow down with Jabrill Peppers on offense
On the flip side, CAA represents nine first-round selections this year, and Peppers is just one of three players who not signed their deals so far. According to The San Diego-Union Tribune, CAA’s clients include:
"Solomon Thomas, San Francisco 49ers, third overall; Corey Davis, Tennessee Titans, fifth overall; Mike Williams, Los Angeles Chargers, seventh overall; Marshon Lattimore, New Orleans Saints, 11th overall; ), Haason Reddick, Arizona Cardinals), 13th overall; O.J. Howard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 19th overall; Evan Engram, New York Giants), 23rd overall; Peppers; and T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers; 30th overall."
According to the signing tracker at NFL.com, Thomas and Davis are the only other CAA clients who have not signed a rookie deal.
The fear that Peppers will follow the lead of Bosa seems a bit of a stretch. Their situations are different as Bosa was the No. 3 overall selection in his draft class, while Peppers was near the bottom of the first round. And the majority of CAA’s first-round clients have already signed their rookie deals, so it seems more than likely that Peppers will be on the field when the Browns open training camp on July 27.
Next: Myles Garrett looks ready for training camp
And if he’s not? Well, from what we’ve seen from defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, a holdout may put a few more dollars in Peppers’ bank account, but Williams will be sure to make him earn every penny of it.