The Lions top three NFL draft picks AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza
The NFL has released its Rookie Pool allocation dollar figures and the Detroit Lions are leading the way with more then 8 million dollars of their 2009 cap space that can be allocated to signing their draft picks, and undrafted free agents.
The NFL determines the pool by the team’s total draft picks and were those picks were slotted in each round of the NFL draft. The total pool for all 32 teams is an impressive 150.755 million dollars. That number is 7% higher then the pool figure for 2008.
Here is a look at the teams with the most rookie cap space:
• Detroit Lions-8.075 million dollars
• Denver Broncos- 7.118 million dollars
• Cincinnati Bengals-6.636 million dollars
• New England Patriots- 6.032 million dollars
• Buffalo Bills-5.946 million dollars
Since the 2009 NFL salary cap is going to be around 120 some million dollars the investment in rookies is but a small fraction of an overall team’s cap space. This seems to be the best argument against a rookie pay scale for the NFL similar to the NBA.
With only some 8 million dollars to work with the Lions may have placed them into a precarious situation by signing number one overall pick Matthew Stafford to a six year 72 million dollar deal.
Depending on how the contract is structured, how much of that money is a singing bonus, will ultimately affect hat Stafford cap number is. With many factors of this yet to be determined the Lions may not have a lot of money to sign their other draft picks.
What we do know is the Stafford’s deal with be a significant amount of the 8.075 million dollars the league has allowed the Lions to sign their draft picks.
With another first round pick, and a very talented first pick in the second draft left to sign, the Lions may run out of money before securing contracts for their ten selections in this year’s draft.
More 2009 NFL draft stories
• Which team did well and not so well in the 2009 draft
• Matthew Stafford earns largest NFL rookie contract ever
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