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The Lions have locked up deals with all five of their draft picks. First-round pick Nick Fairley was the last to agree to terms on a deal, and he did so on Thursday night.
The Detroit Lions have added wide receiver Titus Young to the list of 2011 NFL Draft picks that have been signed. Early Thursday morning they got a deal done with seventh-round pick Johnny Culbreath, and Thursday afternoon they signed fifth-round pick Doug Hogue. Second-round pick Mikel Leshoure signed Thursday evening, and Young, a fellow second-rounder, signed shortly after.
With four draft picks signed, the only unsigned one is first-round selection Nick Fairley. While there is no indication of if a deal is close, I would expect Fairley to sign before Friday's practice based on what he said on Wednesday.
"It’d probably be a setback coming in as my first year," Fairley said. "So hopefully like I said they can hurry up and get it done so I don’t miss no days and I don’t miss no meetings."
The Lions' first practice starts at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, so as long as Fairley signs before then he won't miss much.
The Detroit Lions have signed their second and third draft picks of the day: Syracuse linebacker Doug Hogue and Illinois running back Mikel Leshoure. Hogue, a fifth-round draft pick, signed his deal Thursday afternoon, as first reported by his agency.
Congratulations to DEC MANAGEMENT client @Doug_hogue for officially signing his 5th round contract with the Detroit Lions
Leshoure agreed to terms on his deal a few hours later and broke the news on Twitter.
Agreed to terms. Ready to get to work. Looking forward to a great season and career with the Lions.
Dave Birkett reports that Leshoure is en route to the Lions' team facility in Allen Park right now. Once he arrives he will officially sign his deal, leaving the Lions with two rookies to sign: first-round pick Nick Fairley and second-round pick Titus Young. Both players are hoping to get signed before the first practice on Friday, so look for talks to progress on Thursday night.
The first 2011 Detroit Lions draft pick to agree to a deal with the team is South Carolina State offensive tackle Johnny Culbreath. Culbreath, who was selected in the seventh round by the Lions in April's draft, agreed to a four-year contract on Wednesday night. The plan is for him to sign it on Thursday before the Lions begin training camp.
With Culbreath's deal out of the way, the Lions now have four rookies left to sign: defensive tackle Nick Fairley (first round), running back Mikel Leshoure (second round), wide receiver Titus Young (second round) and linebacker Doug Hogue (fifth round).
Currently there is no indication of how long these deals will take to get worked out, but Fairley is hoping his is done before practice begins since he doesn't want to miss any activities.
"It’d probably be a setback coming in as my first year," Fairley said. "So hopefully like I said they can hurry up and get it done so I don’t miss no days and I don’t miss no meetings."
With the way the rookie wage system is set up in the new CBA, holdouts aren't expected, so I would anticipate all of the Lions' rookies to be signed before practice starts on Friday.
Lions Draft Picks 2011: Nick Fairley Agrees To Deal
With almost 12 hours left to spare before the first practice of training camp, the Detroit Lions have taken care of their deals with all five of this year's draft picks. Nick Fairley was the last draft pick to agree to a deal, and he did so on Thursday night.
Fairley's deal is four years long and is worth $10 million. All of it is guaranteed, and the contract also includes a signing bonus of $5.7 million
Under the new rookie wage system, Fairley's deal gives the Lions a fifth-year option. If they exercise the option (has to be after the third year of the deal), Fairley will return for a fifth year with a salary that is based on the average of the deals for the No. 3 through No. 25 players at defensive tackle.
Fairley was very happy to get his deal done before he missed anything. He tweeted, "Thank GOD, Family and Fans! I'm officially a Lion! Time to get to work!"
Jul 28 10:45p by Sean Yuille