Here’s Why The Cowboys 2nd Round Pick Hasn’t Signed His Rookie Contract Yet

Here’s Why The Cowboys 2nd Round Pick Hasn’t Signed His Rookie Contract Yet

Coming up on today’s Cowboys report, we’ll break down why the Cowboys second round selection, Donovan Ezrau, has not yet signed his rookie contract and why that’s not actually worth freaking out the same way it might be if it were a normal offseason. Before we get into that, we are kind of days away now from training camp. If you are excited, show it by liking today’s video, please. And thank you. [Music] As mentioned, Davaraku, the second round selection, is unsigned. He is the only Cowboys draft pick who has yet to agree to the terms of his rookie scale contract, which in most cases doesn’t really have a lot to hem and haw and disagree over, but something has emerged in a unique situation this year. Now, Cowboys training camp gets going on July 22nd, and you’d like to have all your draft picks signed by them. I don’t think there’s any actual threat of a hold out. You could always just simply sign the waiver like he did for OTAAS in mini camp. But this is at least worth watching as we get closer and closer to that date. So far, two second round picks. That’s it. Carson Swissinger, the linebacker out of UCLA to the Cleveland Browns. And Jaden Higgins, the wide receiver out of Iowa State to the Houston Texans, are the only second rounders unsigned. The other 30 have not yet agreed to contracts officially. What is unique about the deals those two those two players signed is that they are fully guaranteed, which has not happened before for a second round selection. Houston started this. They gave Jaden Higgins at pick 34 a fully guaranteed contract. The agents and players and PA finally chipped away and got that included on a deal. And then not long after that, the Browns give to Carson Swinger because well, if pick 34 got it, we’ll give it to you as well at 33 and not have a potential actual hold out in that scenario. So now the guaranteed money for all second round picks is an issue. Rookie contracts are fully guaranteed for first rounders. They hadn’t been fully guaranteed for second rounders. Now you can have some negotiations about what the amount of guaranteed money is. For reference, the Cowboys took Marshon Neland pick 56 in last year’s NFL draft. His guaranteed money was just the first two years. Luke Scoomaker, actually going back to 2023, was just the first two years. That one was at pick number 58. of note, which is even probably more impactful from what the Cowboys have done. Jackson Powers Johnson was pick number 44 in last year’s draft. Same pick as Donovan Ezaraku. He had his first three years guaranteed, plus of course the signing bonus stuff. For additional background and information, the draft pick guaranteed amounts in that 2024 class. This is at pick number 42, Kamari Lacader. He had his first three years guaranteed and part of his 2027 salary. Max Melton had the exact same thing. Jackson Powers had his first three years guaranteed. Then the next pick, Edan Cooper, just part of 2026. And then the next pick, Jonathan Brooks, only had the first two years guaranteed and then it stuck with the two and two model after that. Now, we’ll break down how this all impacts as a Rocku here and what the timeline looks like. But did you like that pick? Cuz I I sure did. Y for yes, N for no. Sound off with the pin comment of today’s show. You’ve seen some discussion on the two and two model. That still works for later round two picks. But if you’re in the first 15ish picks of round two, it’s kind of already dead. Some have been getting their third year’s guaranteed. Some getting partial guarantees in the third year, some partial fourth year guarantees. I would anticipate that Donovan Ezrau with the way his contract is set up gets that third year guaranteed with where he was drafted when Jackson Powers Johnson got it last year. I think he gets the third year guaranteed fully guaranteed maybe not the fourth year. There are there is a lot of things to figure out uh with the picks in front of him as we’ll get into now. I believe that would be new for Dallas. I don’t think Kelvin Joseph, this was a couple years ago, it’s been chipped away at overall with the uh rookie scale. I don’t think Kelvin Joseph had a fully guaranteed cont or third year fully guaranteed. And Ezra’s camp is fully like let’s just wait. Like we’re not going to take the current offer of maybe it’s a third year guaranteed, maybe it’s not. Let’s let the other picks in front of him sign. And objectively, that is the right thing to do here. And the Cowboys, not much you can do. you are kind of going to let the other set the market. You’re certainly not going to give him the fourth year guarantee. There’s no reason to do that. So, you kind of just have nothing to complain about. You just got to wait. Like, it’s I’m not upset at all with the Cowboys here. They have done nothing wrong. Ezrau’s camp has done nothing wrong. This is Houston’s fault, damn it. So, now it’s just a waiting game of, okay, let’s see how things play out here. And I do think that game ends pretty soon. In fact, you could kind of start to get some traction in a week, if not less. Before we get to that, this Cowboys hoodie is on sale. I know it’s hot, especially if you’re living in Texas, but you can stock and prep your winter fall wardrobe now with this dope Cowboys hoodie. Was 90 bucks, now it’s just 54. Links in the comments and the description of today’s show at chatsports.com/cowboysh hoodie. First up, the Chargers are set to report in the very distant future. They actually report on July 12th and Trey Harris picked number 55 overall. Does he just kind of take what the previous stuff was and not worry too much about raising the bar previously? It’s possible. More impactful potentially, the 49ers have rookies report on July 15th, about a week before the Cowboys report. They took Alfred Collins one spot before Ezrau. and whatever Collins got, you know, Ezrau is not going to get more than that in almost every case. So, if he kind of signs his deal early, that would give you a good benchmark for what Ezrau is going to get in terms of the third fourth year guarantees. I I think you’re going to get some traction here soon. And I think that makes the Cowboys planning easier. I have criticized them many a time for not being proactive with contracts. This is one where you can’t actually be proactive. You have half of the stuff in front of you play out. That’s fine. This is not If we beat the Bills to sign 41, we might get a better deal. No, you’re just not going to. You might get a worse deal, actually. So, you’re better off just waiting. Uh Nickhamm and Waring the Seahawks is kind of the next like breaking point here. Like what do they do? 33 and 34 were fully guaranteed. Does 35 get it fully guaranteed? Because then the Browns are going to Johnson Judkins 36 is going to ask for it. Does he get it? the seven where does at some point a player’s not going to get it fully guaranteed and I think the Seahawks are going to try hard to not do that maybe they give some partial fourth year guarantees and then you get this kind of snowball cascading effect real quick where things get figured out look it’s all about leverage and when it comes to contract talks and leverage doesn’t really exist for rookies or agents they don’t have that much of it it’s a rookie contract scale it’s pretty straightforward I think the rest of the NFL is mad at Houston. I mean, you already had the league collude against Lamar Jackson and others to bring down guaranteed money and Houston said, “Sure, pick 34, a fully guaranteed deal.” They just gave it to him immediately. So, now the kind of this starts with, “Okay, what does Seattle do at third 35?” Do they cave? Do they not cave? That one there’s a chance because it’s like the next pick could have maybe some drama. Like, we’ll see. I think by the time it gets to the 44 and the Cowboys, problem solved. Chuck at 40 might have a little bit of extra leverage because he’s a quarterback. He might be able to argue I’m I’m your guy. You should pay me a little bit more. A guaranteed money. You trust me, right? Like that. That’s one worth monitoring at least. We’ll break it down as a rock more in depth here, but we are a little over 700 subs away from 218,000. Hit that sub button for me right now. So, big picture because this isn’t impacting Azaraku at all on the field. He’s done all the stuff. He’s been involved. He signed the waiver. It’s all good. Ezaraku was one of my favorite draft picks, but he’s still a rookie second rounder. And I think we should temper the expectations. Well, I’ve done the the the social media poll. How many sacks for Donovan Ezrau this year? And it was like 10. I’m like, okay. But like really though, Jared Verse had like five. Like I think a rotational pass rusher who shows flashes, looks like a long-term piece, who we’re excited about. Like, yeah, he’s not all the way there yet. He was a rookie, but like for he was really impactful. Like that’s what you want. I don’t think that means 10 sacks. Be happy if it happened. If if you can get me a few, you can get me pressures, get me some quarterback hits, can you see him making an impact on the game on third downs opposite Micah Parsons? Sweet. That is a good outcome for the Dallas Cowboys. Now, with that in mind, how many sacks you think Donovan Ezrau has this year? Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. A reminder of where I had Azaraku graded. He was my sixth edge and he was a second round pick. I had a second round grade on him, but he was one of my best available players. When the Cowboys were on the clock at pick 44, I had him at 28th overall. I thought he was going to go round one. I think his overall pass rush bag is really impressive. The athletic traits are there as well, even though he’s not that big. I think his plan has to be improved. I want him to develop a true go-to move. like it’s great when you’re able to do all these different things and and be able to get pressures that way, but I want a a bit of a more consistent plan overall, but he was dominant last year at Boston College. 21 TFL, 16 and a half sacks. I would not be surprised if this time next year, we’re talking about Micah Parsons on a new long-term deal. The Cowboys let Dante Fowler walk again. And we are hyped about Ezaraku being the number two pass rusher with Marshon Neland being kind of a contributable role player as like a run stopping base setting edge which this team kind of is kind of light on because it’s not really uh EZ’s role either. I am excited about him long term and eventually that deal will get done. [Music]

Dallas Cowboys rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku, the team’s 2nd-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, still hasn’t signed his rookie contract – and Cowboys Report host Tom Downey explains why AND why not to panic. Guaranteed money is now a sticking point for every 2nd round pick and these contract delays are raising eyebrows ahead of training camp kicking off on July 22nd. Tom explains the change in the NFL that led to this, when the Ezeiruaku contract could get done and what to expect out of the Boston College product this year.

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2 NFL players at the top of the 2nd round got fully guaranteed contracts: Jayden Higgins from the Texans and then Carson Schwesinger at #33 overall after him, despite being picked before Higgins. The Seahawks and Nick Emmanwori have yet to reach a deal and now everyone is waiting to see what happens.

Cowboys contracts in the past for Marshawn Kneeland and Luke Schoonmaker have only guaranteed the first two years of their deals. The 3rd and 4th years had no guarantees, although Jackson Powers-Johnson did get his 3rd year fully guaranteed at the same draft pick by the Raiders last year.

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Cowboys Report host Tom Downey’s take: Donovan Ezeiruaku was one of my favorite draft picks – but he is still a rookie 2nd rounder. I think a “rotational pass rusher who shows flashes” is what to want out of him this year.

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Cowboys Free Agency Tracker:
– Re-signed Osa Odighizuwa: 4-years, $80 MM
– Re-signed CJ Goodwin: 1-year, $1.20 MM
– Re-signed Juanyeh Thomas: 1-year, ERFA Tender
– Re-signed Brock Hoffman: 1-year, ERFA Tender
– Re-signed Markquese Bell: 3-years, $9 MM
– Re-signed Trent Sieg: 3-years, $4.45 MM
– Re-signed Kavontae Turpin, 3-years, $13.5 MM
– Signed Javonte Williams: 1-year, $3 MM
– Signed Robert Jones: 1-year, $3.75 MM
– Signed Solomon Thomas: 2-years, $6 MM
– Signed Payton Turner: 1-year, $3 MM
– Re-signed Bryan Anger: 2-years, $6.4 MM
– Trade: Kaiir Elam
– Signed Jack Sanborn: 1-year, $1.5 MM
– Trade: Kenneth Murray
– Signed Miles Sanders: 1-year, $1.34 MM
– Signed Dante Fowler: 1-year, $6 MM
– Signed Parris Campbell: 1-year, $1.20 MM
– Trade: Joe Milton III
– Signed Saahdiq Charles: 1-year, $1.17 MM (No GTD)
– Signed Hakeem Adeniji: 1-year, $1.17 MM (No GTD)
– Trade: George Pickens

Dallas Cowboys YouTube videos from @chatsports can be found here:
– Cowboys Receive MORE EVIDENCE Of Offensive Line Breakout Thanks To Tyron Smith + Cut Robert Jones? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Otj-M8_Id8
– Dak Prescott SOUNDS OFF On Injury Status, George Pickens And CeeDee Lamb | Dallas Cowboys News – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aF3O4jT8U
– 🚨 MAJOR Cowboys Rumors On Micah Parsons Deal, Tyler Smith Via ESPN NFL Insider + Stephon Gilmore? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVUaOjzWw90

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Donovan Ezeiruaku 2025 NFL Draft Rankings from host Tom Downey:
– Overall Rank: 28th
– Round Grade: 2nd
– Position Grade: 6th

Today’s Cowboys Report audience questions:
– Did you like the pick of Donovan Ezeiruaku? Type ‘Y’ for Yes, ‘N’ for No
– How many sacks for Donovan Ezeiruaku this year?

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