While the Cowboys are way ahead of previous seasons in terms of signing draft picks – which typically hasn't started until the week before camp and now the team has all but one selection signed with about three weeks before the start of camp, there is a small reason for concern with No. 1 pick Morris Claiborne still not signed.
The fear, of course, is that Claiborne's deal won't be done by the first week of camp (July 25-27) which is only for rookies and quarterbacks. For a guy who missed all of the offseason workouts because of pre-draft wrist surgery, Claiborne can't afford to miss any more action.
But there are a couple of reasons to be encouraged about Claiborne's probability of singing before camp.
For starters, the deal is all but done. There is one line in the contract that needs to be figured out, and that's basically something that will occur once the other higher draft picks start to sign. The biggest issue among these top six picks has to do with "offset language" which would prevent a team from paying guaranteed money if a player joins another team have he is released in the future. But like any major contract issue, once it gets resolved at the top, it typically trickles down with ease.
That leads us to the next reason. It's a good thing the first two picks are quarterbacks, and quarterbacks who are expected to start right away. There is no way Indianapolis or Washington is going to let their rookie quarterbacks miss any time because of a small hiccup in the contract.
They will get signed and once that happens, the dominoes will fall and Claiborne will likely be signed before the first practice.
And if a third reason is needed, the Colts are apparently close to signing Luck this week, which could mean Claiborne's deal might be completed before the end of the week.
