Kansas City Chiefs Cornerback Joshua Williams has finally signed his rookie deal, leaving only one player left unsigned from the team’s 2022 class.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a bit more paperwork to take care of after the 2022 NFL Draft than some other teams considering the sheer size of their draft class. It’s been nearly 15 years—since the 2008 draft—that the Chiefs had taken so many prospects in a single weekend, but now nine of the 10 players are under contract with word that fourth round cornerback Joshua Williams had signed his rookie deal.
The Chiefs were quick to come to terms with the majority of players in the draft class, and only two had remained unsigned as of Thursday with Williams and Skyy Moore, a second-round pick out of Western Michigan.
Given that rookie deals are slotted per the collective bargaining agreement, meaning that they have a preset amount with each pick, it was intriguing that Williams and Moore had remained unsigned as long as they had, but shortly before the signing of Williams, NFL reporter Mike Garafolo gave some interesting perspective on what had happened.
Fourth-round picks have been the slowest to agree to deals, in large part because the #Texans have RB Dameone Pierce (second pick in the round) an extra $25k over the minimum, so now every agent behind him is asking for the same. Below pic: Number of signings as of yesterday. pic.twitter.com/pUTui1Um7g
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 9, 2022
It’s unknown at this point if the Chiefs ended up giving Williams a bit more money than expected (averaging out to $6K per season) or not. But it was telling that only 24 percent of all picks in the round had come to terms when the vast majority of other prospects had not. Perhaps the same thing is happening in the second round, too.
Williams is an exciting cornerback out of Fayetteville State who has all of the right measurables coveted by the Chiefs in their defensive backs. The real question is about his leap to the pro level after playing at a smaller program, but the way Williams responded to teaching in the pre-draft season convinced the Chiefs (and other teams) he was worth a shot.