With the Houston Texans giving Jayden Higgins a fully-guaranteed rookie deal, life is quite difficult for a majority of the NFL.
Things are so dire that 30 of 32 second-round picks are still unsigned approaching training camp, which begins this week. The other player who is signed is linebacker Carson Schwesinger, but the main culprit here is Higgins.
And it's not the player's fault, as he was able to score a fully-guaranteed rookie deal, and that is the first time a second-round pick has gotten one of those in the history of the NFL. This, in turn, as really hampered negotiations with other teams and their second-round picks.
The Texans are probably the no. 1 enemy across the NFL right now
Second-round rookies are surely in a position to holdout without their deals, and since Higgins got a fully-guaranteed deal, you have to figure that a lot of these agents for these rookie players are also trying to get their clients a deal like that.
It's truly to a point where you have to wonder if some of these rookies are going to head into the start of the 2025 NFL Season unsigned. If so, there could even be another free agency wave if these second-rounders aren't under contract. Furthermore, second-round picks are often relied on to start day one, so some teams are really in a tough situation.
This is unlike something we have ever seen in the NFL - and as the days turn into weeks and the start of the season gets closer, these teams are going to have to really kick it into high gear to get their second-round rookies under contract.
Jayden Higgins and the Houston Texans have truly made life hard for the rest of the NFL, and the scrambling around to get these rookie signed is surely more than underway.