Not long after Thursday’s newsletter suggesting that both Nick Emmanwori and Elijah Arroyo would sign their contract by Monday, the two second round picks made their agreements with the Seattle Seahawks. And Emmanwori is officially among 2025’s history-making second round class.
After picks 33 (Carson Schwesinger) and 34 (Jayden Higgins) signed the first fully-guaranteed rookie contracts for second round picks, the Seahawks relented and signed 35th overall pick Nick Emmanwori to his $11.6 million deal that is also fully-guaranteed. The safety is signed through 2028.
At the same time, 50th overall pick Elijah Arroyo agreed to an $8.813 million rookie deal that has $6.872 million guaranteed.
S Nick Emmanwori salary cap hits:
2025: $2.1
2026: $2.6
2027: $3.16
2028: $3.68
TE Elijah Arroyo salary cap hits:
2025: $1.6
2026: $2
2027: $2.4
2028: $2.8 (not fully-guaranteed)
The changes that the NFL has seen happen this year are fourth-year guarantees for second round picks. Schwesinger, Higgins, Emmanwori are the first second rounders in history to be guaranteed every dollar on their rookie contracts. As of Friday afternoon, no other second round pick has gotten the same, but a total of 14 players have agreed to deals.
The next-highest drafted player after Emmanwori to sign a contract is 42nd overall pick TE Mason Taylor of the Jets, who has 91.3% of his deal guaranteed.
What do you think: Was it smart for John Schneider to give in to this demand?
Unsigned second round picks between Emmanwori and Taylor are RB Quinshon Judkins (dealing with a legal matter), G Jonah Savaiinaea, RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Luther Burden, QB Tyler Shough, and DT T.J. Sanders.
Shough’s case is the most interesting of the remaining second round picks because he is widely expected to win the Saints starting quarterback position.
Arroyo’s agreement comes earlier than most second rounders and he may have been motivated to sign once it was apparent that Emmanwori was locked in. Although Emmanwori got the full guarantee, Seattle must have let Arroyo’s camp know early that the Seahawks weren’t prepared to set that precedent in the middle of the second round and that he wouldn’t get the same as Emmanwori.
Not only did they pick Emmanwori higher, the Seahawks traded a second and third round pick to move up for him.
Training camp officially starts on Wednesday and now everybody on the roster seems good to go except for one important starter:
Edge defender Uchenna Nwosu, no surprise, was played on the PUP list on Thursday. This just means that Nwosu continues to rehab from offseason knee surgery and that he isn’t ready for the first day, but by all account Seattle still plans to have him back before the season. Putting Nwosu on the PUP list now means that the Seahawks have options and he can be activated at any time. Nwosu will only miss games if he’s on the PUP list at final cuts.
Seaside Joe 2328
Sweet! The gang’s all signed.
I’m good with the guarantees. The NFL and the respective teams are some of the most profitable businesses anywhere. Rookies who may end up sacrificing their bodies and health deserve a slice of the pie (really more like a tiny nibble).
Looks like he did the sliding scale thing I mentioned in the last article... he established that the cutoff point for fully guaranteed contracts is now somewhere in the middle of the 2nd rd. If he had guaranteed both, it would have meant someone else would have had to establish where the fully guaranteed contracts would stop (after pick 50 somewhere), and it could have been pick 3.1 being the 1st non-guarantee if everyone else in the 2nd rd had signed their picks to fully guaranteed contracts. So, it seems like ownership won't be upset because he established that pick 2.18 would NOT be fully guaranteed. That keeps him in good graces with owners and other GMs for future dealings. He also guaranteed part of Arroyo's contract, so he didn't go completely the opposite way and guarantee none of it, which keeps him in the good graces of agents, his players, and the union by allowing for future guarantees to be negotiable. Now, someone else has to determine where the completely non-guaranteed contracts start. He has set the baseline for fully guaranteed at somewhere between pick 2.3 and 2.18, and also allowed for partial guarantees to extend down to at least 2.18, and possibly further.
This was an absolute homerun! It was a masterclass on how to get a win-win in a situation that had larger ramifications for the entire league, players and owners. Man, that dude is an awesome human who is awesome at his job and treating people right! SO glad he is our general!