The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin has reported the signing bonuses for all of the New England Patriots undrafted rookie free agent signings, apart from recently signed TE Sam Cotton and OL Cole Croston.
Here is the guaranteed money the Patriots gave to 18 of their 20 UDFAs. No info for TE Sam Cotton or OL Cole Croston pic.twitter.com/4mHvhNgVKl
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) May 23, 2017
The Patriots gave monster signing bonuses to LB Harvey Langi and TE Jacob Hollister and treated them as if they were extra sixth and seventh round picks New England didn’t have.
Langi and Hollister are joined by CB D.J. Killings and WR Austin Carr in the “$30,000+ Signing Bonus Club,” which is a pretty exclusive group. From 2012-16, the Patriots signed just four undrafted free agents into the club (LB Cameron Gordon, CB Jonathan Jones, RB D.J. Foster, WR T.J. Moe), so the club doubled in size this offseason.
On the other end of the spectrum, RB LeShun Daniels ($5,000), CB Kenny Moore ($5,000), S Jason Thompson ($3,500), and S Damarius Travis ($1,500) received $5,000 or less. That doesn’t mean these players won’t have a chance to make the roster because contributors like WR Kenbrell Thompkins ($5,000), P Ryan Allen ($5,000), and S Brandon King ($3,000) all signed for small amounts of money.
And then there’s OT Andrew Jelks who received $0 to sign with the Patriots. Jelks started his first two years at Vanderbilt at tackle, but suffered preseason injuries in both 2015 and 2016 that kept him off the field. Don’t worry, Andrew, because former Patriots DT Joe Vellano didn’t receive a signing bonus and he was a big part of the Patriots defense for a few years.