Rookie Salary Projections for Oklahoma State’s NFL Draftees Total Over $13 Million

Four Oklahoma State Cowboys were selected in this year’s NFL Draft, and while the specific deals for each have not yet come out, we can get a good idea of the immediate effect that hearing their name called or receiving that phone call had on their lives.

Spotrac lists the estimated contract, signing bonuses and Year 1 salaries for all draft picks based on the NFL’s rookie wage scale. These numbers aren’t exact but should paint a clear enough picture. All draftees get a four-year contract, first round picks get a fifth-year option and undrafted free agents only qualify for three-year deals.

First round picks have their four-year deals guaranteed, second round picks can have from one to two years guaranteed depending on where they fall in the round. Third round picks and later only have their signing bonus guaranteed.

Let’s take a look at those four former Pokes and their projected earnings.

James Washington

Estimated contract – $4,520,573
Estimated signing bonus – $1,367,689
Estimated 2018 salary – $821,922

Washington was the seventh wide receiver chosen in this year’s draft, despite his dominant on-field production and Biletnikoff trophy. The first was Maryland’s D.J. Moore who was taken 24th overall to the Carolina Panthers, a spot where myself and several others thought Washington might go.

Moore is slated to make somewhere around $11.3 million, and again, his contract will be guaranteed for the full four years.

Mason Rudolph

Estimated contract – $3,814,905
Estimated signing bonus – $941,894
Estimated 2018 salary – $715,474

While landing in Pittsburgh may be better long-term for Rudolph’s career — although his welcome hasn’t exactly been rosey — falling to the third round was not ideal for Rudolph’s bank account. There is a huge difference in the first round of the draft, where Rudolph was predicted by many to go, and his No. 76 landing spot.

Here’s a look at the projections for the five QBs taken ahead of Rudolph in the first round.

Baker Mayfield – $32,993,327 estimated contract (Pick 1)
Sam Darnold – $30,532,906 estimated contract (Pick 3)
Josh Allen – $21,374,589 estimated contract (Pick 7)
Josh Rosen – $17,752,271 estimated contract (Pick 10)
Lamar Jackson – $9,542,219 estimated contract (Pick 32)

I think it’s easy to look at seven or more digits to the right of the $, roll our eyes and disassociate these salaries from the world we live in, but Rudolph lost a lot of money compared to where he was expected to go by some and where he was supposed to go according to himself. Even the last pick of the first round was good for around two and a half times what Rudolph is getting.

Tre Flowers

Estimated contract – $2,702,188
Estimated signing bonus – $287,188
Estimated 2018 salary – $551,797

Flowers was the 29th defensive back taken in the draft and the 16th cornerback. He was listed as a safety but Seattle drafted OSU’s leading tackler to convert him to a cover man.

He may have an uphill battle to convert to a whole new position and to help try to rebuild the Legion of Boom in place of departed Pro Bowler, Richard Sherman. But the Seahawks took a flier on Flowers and he should have every opportunity to stick.

Marcell Ateman

Estimated Contract – $2,508,035
Estimated signing bonus – $93,035
Estimated 2018 salary – $503,259

Ateman just slipped into the back door of the draft after falling all the way to the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round. It’s a stark contrast from the Round 1 projection that was being thrown around back in January.

What’s worse, the Raiders have added several wide receivers this offseason, some even after the draft, making the chances of Ateman earning a spot on the 53-man roster much less the rotation, an uphill battle.