Rams' picks Jenkins, Johnson agree to terms
The Rams' final two draft picks finally fell in line when cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins (second round) and Trumaine Johnson (third) agreed to contract terms.
The Post-Dispatch reported that Jenkins' deal is worth "just over" $5 million with $3.1 million guaranteed. It was also reported that "according to league sources, Jenkins is believed to have the largest increase in percentage of guaranteed money (over the 2011 draft) of any second-rounder this year."
It is not yet known if the Rams received any protection for the guaranteed money or if any of his signing bonus is deferred. What is known is that those reported numbers fall right in line with the two picks that surrounded him in the draft.
Defensive end Andre Branch, selected one spot in front of Jenkins by the Jacksonville Jaguars, signed a contract worth $5,089,934 that included a signing bonus of $2,141,768. His base salaries of $390,000 in 2012 and $621,361 in 2013 are guaranteed for a percentage guarantee of 61.9.
One spot after Jenkins, the Carolina Panthers selected guard Amini Silatolu. His contract is worth a total of $4,937, 104 and includes a signing bonus of $2,030,620. His base salaries of $390,000 in 2012 and $564,414 in 2013 are guaranteed for a percentage guarantee of 60.5. However, Silatolu has a workout bonus of $50,000 guaranteed for injury as well as $100,000 workout bonuses in 2014 and 2015.
Only a handful of second-round picks have workout bonuses in their contracts. Including the 2013 workout bonus for Silatolu increases his guaranteed percentage to 61.5.
While the exact value of Jenkins' deal wasn't known yet, the reported guarantee is 62 percent of $5 million. It is unclear what the reported increase for Jenkins from 2011 refers to, but it could be a comparison to the seventh pick in the second round last year.
If that's the case, the additional increase for Jenkins might be because Tennessee Titans linebacker Akeem Ayers' contract had his 2011 salary guaranteed and only a portion of his 2012 salary guaranteed when most other early second-round picks had all of their 2011-2012 bases guaranteed.
If all of Ayers' 2012 base had been guaranteed, the percentage would have been 62. Instead, it is 59.9 percent. That makes it a 2.1 percent increase for Jenkins.
For another comparison, Rams' wide receiver Brian Quick's 70.9 percent of guaranteed money is 1.1 percent more than the first pick of the second round in 2011, New England cornerback Ras-I Dowling. Also consider that Quick's signing bonus ($2,357,528) is exactly what Dowling received. The increase in guaranteed money for base salaries is because of the increase in minimums from 2011 to 2012.
