The Denver Broncos have officially left the Cincinnati Bengals all alone in the "unsigned first-round pick" department. Cornerback Jahdae Barron, the Broncos' first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and the 20th overall pick, has finally signed his four-year rookie contract.
Every year, player agents are working to get their guys the most guaranteed money possible, and the biggest signing bonuses and up-front guaranteed money they can. The CBA mandates that players cannot show up to training camp without a contract signed, and because all rookie contracts are essentially pre-determined, it's extremely rare in today's NFL to see rookies not showing up.
That might happen a lot more than we're used to seeing in 2025. The majority of the second round is not yet signed and now, all but one first-round pick has signed.
The last remaining first-round pick in need of a deal is Cincinnati Bengals 1st-round pick Shemar Stewart, whose situation has absolutely reached complete disaster mode.
Jahdae Barron finally signs rookie contract with Broncos
Barron due for roughly $9.8 million signing bonus. 4-year deal worth roughly $18.05 million. All Broncos players under contract except second-round draft pick RJ Harvey. https://t.co/sxYcs3XlAJ
— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) July 16, 2025
Make no mistake, the most important story here for the Broncos is that Barron is in the fold, but the bigger story is that him signing his contract leaves Shemar Stewart all alone on disaster island with the Bengals.
Stewart angrily left Bengals mandatory minicamp with the way contract negotiations had been going, after he angrily received his hat and jersey on the stage at the 2025 NFL Draft. Something has just been completely off about that situation from the start, but this is not new for the Bengals. Their first-round pick in 2024 -- offensive tackle Amarius Mims -- was the last 1st-rounder to sign in 2024 as well.
The Broncos had no such friction with Barron, whose signing bonus of nearly $9.8 million is reflective of what likely was holding up negotiations overall. Last year's 20th overall pick was offensive lineman Troy Fautanu of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who received a signing bonus of just under $7.7 million. The year before that was Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who received a signing bonus of just over $7.48 million.
So you can see that Barron was waiting for a signing bonus more in alignment with what the guys in this year's class were receiving, which are beyond unprecedented. We're looking at a jump of $2 million in signing bonus, which is significant.
That means Barron will receive over $10.6 million in total cash this year alone. Rookies are getting a lot more of their contracts guaranteed up front and that is now the root of the issues teams are facing with second-round picks.
But the second-round pick issue feels like a breeze compared to what the Bengals are dealing with as a whole. They have Trey Hendrickson upset and holding out already, and their first-round pick might not want to be there at all. His leverage right now is sitting out this season and re-entering the NFL Draft in 2026.
Thankfully, the Broncos will have their first-rounder in the fold and hitting the ground running at the start of camp.