Ravens Second-Round Pick Part of League-Wide Trend

With first-round pick Malaki Starks now under contract, the Baltimore Ravens now have just one more draft pick left to sign.

That would be their second-round pick, Mike Green, who should be a big part of their pass rush this year. As it turns out, though, the Ravens aren't the only team facing this same problem.

More than a month after the draft, only two second-round picks have signed their rookie deals, and perhaps not so coincidentally, they're the first two picks of the round. Wide receiver Jayden Higgins, the number 34 pick, signed a fully-guaranteed deal with the Houston Texans on May 8, while linebacker Carson Schwesinger, the number 33 pick, did the same with the Cleveland Browns a day later.

That means that 30 players selected in the second round have yet to sign their rookie deals, more than in the other six rounds of the draft combined.

So, what's the holdup? Well, it all goes back to the "fully-guaranteed" part.

Higgins and Schwesinger are the first second-round picks in league history to sign fully-guaranteed deals, which are normally reserved only for first-round picks. This development has been a long time coming, but these two are the first to make history.

As a result, however, other second-round picks are now asking for the same treatment. As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk put it "agents are asking those teams, if other second-round picks are getting fully guaranteed contracts, why should my player take anything less?"

The value of rookie deals is entirely based on their draft positioning, so fully guaranteeing those deals is really the only thing to negotiate.

Green, who led all FBS players with 17 sacks last season, is a strong, fast and explosive edge rusher who should be able to make an immediate impact. He fell to the second round due to off-field concerns, but if the Ravens are correct in their assessment of him, he could be a major piece of their future.