With two first round picks and 11 players drafted overall, the Browns were assigned one of the higher numbers in the NFL rookie pool. This report comes by way of Ravens beat writer Aaron Wilson-
“Browns assigned $9.72 million rookie pool to sign T. Richardson, B. Weeden, total of 11 picks. Total of deals can’t exceed $53.46 million”
Curious exactly how the rookie salary cap works? Me too. Here’s an explanation from last year by Brian McFarland-
“First, as way of explanation, under the CBA of 2011, all rookies receive 4-year contracts, generally with a signing bonus and often with minimum base salaries set for each year of the deal. While 1st and 2nd round picks may have base salaries of more than the minimum in years 2 through 4 of their deals, even those players will almost always receive the rookie minimum base salary during their first year. For 2012, the minimum base salary for a rookie is $390K. For Salary Cap purposes, the bonus received by the player is prorated over the 4 years of the deal and that prorated amount is added to the base salary to create the player’s Cap number. “
Going into the draft, the Browns had the second most room under the salary cap at just over $16 million.
