Quinnen agrees to $32.5M deal
The Jets contract standoff with No. 3 overall pick Quinnen Williams ended Thursday when the team moved off a hard stance on deferred signing bonus payments.
Gang Green held firm this spring on an offer that would have deferred more than a third of Williams' slotted $21.68 million bonus. In the end, Williams will get 75% of his bonus at signing. The remaining 25% will be paid in Year 2, according to sources. (It's common practice for top picks to get their full signing bonus within the first year).
Williams' slotted four-year, $32.5 million rookie deal will include a fifthyear team option.
He'll count $5.9 million against the 2019 salary cap.
The 6-3, 303pound defensive lineman didn't report with the rest of the rookies last Friday. In the end, he didn't miss much. The Jets held their first nonpadded practice Thursday. Players won't get in pads until Saturday.
“This is part of the end of the draft process,” Adam Gase said Wednesday. “When he's ready, he's ready. When they're ready to get it done, whenever it happens, it happens. And we'll coach the guys that are here.”
“This is the norm,” Gase added. “This happens when you get Top 5 picks. It takes time to go through these sometimes. … We'll be all right … When he gets here, he gets here.”
Williams and 49ers' No. 2 overall pick Nick Bosa agreed to terms within minutes of each other on Thursday afternoon.
It's the second consecutive year that Gang Green's firstround picks staged a miniholdout. Sam Darnold missed three practices last year.
“At the end of the day, those few practices that I did miss, I don't know how much of an impact that had on the season,” Darnold said.
For tax purposes, Williams wanted the full bonus paid in the first year. Not doing so under the Jets original offer would have cost him $100,000, while saving the team nothing.
Five of the seven players taken after Williams in the Top 10 will have their signing bonuses paid in full in the first year. The Jets had given their last five first-round picks an average of 88% of their signing bonus in Year 1, including Darnold (full bonus, $20.1 million) within 15 days of signing.