Under the NFL’s rookie wage scale, there is little doubt rookies will sign their contracts after being drafted. So it came as little surprise when the Denver Broncos announced they had signed first round pick, Noah Fant, to a four-year deal with a fifth-year option.
The Broncos had traded back in the first round from the tenth overall pick to the 20th to draft Fant, picking up an extra second-round pick that they ultimately used to draft quarterback Drew Lock. Lock, along with second-round pick Dalton Risner and third-round pick Dre’Mont Jones have yet to sign their rookie deals.
New Broncos head coach Vic Fangio this week noted that Fant has all of the tools, but still needs to learn the finer points of the NFL game.
“Yeah, he can run,” Fangio said. “We all knew that. That was easy, but now he has to learn how to be a tight end in the NFL. He’s got tools, but you know I can go into Home Depot and walk out with a bunch of nice tools and I’m not a carpenter. We have to teach him how to be a tight end in the NFL, and he’s working great at it.”
The analogy is a perfect description of just about every rookie that comes into the NFL, whether they are a first-round pick or an undrafted free agent. Once you are a roster in the offseason, it will be a lot of work to catch on and develop your craft into a long NFL career.