Lions sign draft pick Caraun Reid

The Detroit Lions' rookie minicamp kicks off on Friday, and the expectation is for most or all of their eight draft picks to be signed by the time it begins. In the past, signing draft picks was not such a quick and painless process, but thanks to the rookie wage scale in the current collective bargaining agreement, things move pretty quickly. (Case in point: The Chicago Bears have already signed their entire draft class.)

For the Lions, they got the ball rolling by signing fifth-round pick Caraun Reid on Thursday afternoon. Reid, like all players taken after the first round, received a simple four-year deal. His contract netted him a $188,880 signing bonus, according to Josh Katzenstein, and the year-by-year breakdown for salaries is as follows:

2014: $420,000
2015: $510,000
2016: $600,000
2017: $690,000

TOTAL (with signing bonus included): $2,408,880

Dave Birkett reports that the Lions are expected to sign seventh-round pick Nate Freese at some point on Thursday as well, and he reiterated that the expectation is for most or all of the draft picks to be signed before the rookie minicamp begins. At the very least, all of the picks should be signed by the end of the weekend.