New Details Revealed on Why Dolphins Rookie Jonah Savaiinaea Has Not Signed Deal

None of them have signed, except for two — the first two drafted in the second round. The Cleveland Browns used pick No. 33 on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, followed by the Houston Texas who picked Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins.

What happened next was the start of the problems in getting 2025 second-round picks under contract.

There was no negotiating over money. Each draft slot has a predetermined value under. the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. For Savaiinaea, his Dolphins rookie contract will pay him $11,310,028 over four years. 

But only a portion of that money will come with a guarantee. How big the portion will be is the subject of negotiations. Since 2022 all first round picks receive fully guaranteed contracts. But second round picks never do. 

Until this year, when the Texans bestowed Higgins with a fully guaranteed deal. The Browns, who picked Schwesinger in the slot before Higgins, then did the same for their new rookie. It could have ended there.

But according to a report by sports agent Joel Curry published by CBS Sports, it did not end because the eighth pick in the second round didn't want it to. Tyler Shough, the former Oregon quarterback, is also demanding a fully guaranteed deal, according to Corry.

With the sudden retirement of Derek Carr, Shough apparently believes that he will be the starting signal-caller for the New Orleans Saints, who took him with the No. 40 overall selection.

That set off a chain reaction, Corry reported, in which agents for all players picked in the third through seventh second-round slots are now seeking fully guaranteed contracts for their own clients. 

Savaiinaea was picked fifth by the Dolphins in Round Two, and as a result, he is waiting for the Shough situation in New Orleans to reach some kind of resolution.

None of the players taken in the second round after Shough have signed yet either. According to Corry, their agents are also waiting, in hopes that they can procure — if not fully guaranteed deals for their players — a higher percentage of guaranteed money than would have been possible if the situation with Higgins, Schwesinger and Shough never happened.