Well, it’s about time. The Green Bay Packers have signed first-round pick Datone Jones.
The Urinal Sentinel is reporting that it’s a four-year deal worth around $7.7 million. Jones will get a signing bonus just south of $4 million and around $6.3 million guaranteed.
The Packers now have all of their draft picks under contract, which is good because training camp starts on Friday. Jones’ deal is reflective of him being drafted No. 26 overall. The latest collective bargaining agreement essentially ended rookie holdouts by slotting draft pick contracts by the order they were picked in.
Previously, guys who were, say, quarterbacks (or assholes like Terrell Buckley or Tony Mandarich) could base their demands on whatever inflated figures they saw fit.
The Packers last holdout was B.J. Raji in 2009, but such nonsense was a regular occurrence in the 1980s. And let’s not forget, The Deity himself, Aaron Rodgers, held out for six days in 2005.
That’s business, though. Now it’s just a formality.
So who’s ready for Datone Jones to start killing motherfuckers in the preseason?!
Looks like it was Datone’s birthday on Wednesday, too. Go holler at him on Twitter.