When the current rookie wage scale first arrived in 2011, teams and agents began haggling over the number of four-year, first-round deals that would be fully guaranteed.
Initially, roughly the first 20 players picked in round one got every penny guaranteed. Fifteen years later, that number has more than doubled.
Based on the contracts negotiated to date following the 2026 draft, at least the first 48 players will have fully-guaranteed deals.
The 48th overall pick — Falcons cornerback Aveion Terrell — received a fully-guaranteed deal. Last year, the fully-guaranteed contracts ended with Saints quarterback Tyler Shough, who was taken with the 40th overall selection.
The 48th pick in 2025 had only 80 percent of his contract fully guaranteed.
The 49th pick, Panthers defensive tackle Lee Hunter, is the highest-drafted player in 2026 to not have a fully-guaranteed deal. Of his total payout of $10.072 million, $9.507 million is fully guaranteed. That’s 94.3 percent of the deal. (It’s a significant bump from the 78.94 percent full guarantee for the player taken in that same slot in 2025.)
Look for the trend to continue in 2027, with more of the players in round two getting fully-guaranteed deals. Already, the needle has moved to half of the second round.
