NO. 3 DRAFT PICK DARNOLD JOINS JETS
N.J.» Sam FLORHAM PARK,
Darnold is signed, sealed and back under center.
The Jets inked the rookie quarterback to a fully guaranteed four-year, $30.25 million deal Monday, ending the contract holdout of the NFL’s No. 3 overall draft pick.
Darnold missed the first three days of training camp practice while his representatives and the team worked out the details. There wouldn’t be a fourth straight absence.
“What’s up Jets fans?” Darnold said in a video posted by the team . “Man, it’s a pleasure to be signed now. I’m very excited. Very special moment. Let’s do it. Jet up!”
Just a few minutes after the Jets announced the signing — which includes a bonus of about $20 million — on social media, Darnold made his way out to the practice field with his teammates greeting him with a “Rudy”-like slow-clap .
“We were just messing around with him,” defensive end Leonard Williams said with a smile. “We gave him a little slow-clap and I think it was just more of a welcoming him back and also just a thing the guys do. We mess around with each other a lot.
“We were like, ‘Oh, he finally made it.’ ”
Darnold spoke briefly to coach Todd Bowles as he joined the team.
“I told him he was late,” Bowles said, keeping a straight face.
A grinning Darnold made his way to the warmup line and got a pat on the shoulder from Josh McCown.
“Anybody that comes in late and holds out as a draft pick and makes a bunch of money is going to catch ribbing from the team,” Bowles said. “And this is only the start of it. But Sam has a good spirit and he’ll take it kindheartedly.”
Concussion claims surpass $500 million. PHILADELPHIA»
More than $500 million in claims were approved under the NFL’s concussion settlement, nearly a decade earlier than league officials estimated they would reach that amount.
Claims administrators in the settlement released an updated report on the concussion settlement information website saying about $502 million had been approved in less than two years of the settlement. — The Associated Press