All 32 NFL teams have now officially begun training camp … yet as of writing this post there are still 11 first round draft picks unsigned. Nobody likes a holdout, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil in the NFL. All the players want to be paid more than the player selected in their slot the previous year. But sometimes you will have a player like Gholston in 2008 or Heyward-Bey in 2009 that gets paid so much more money than expected it throws all the other teams out of whack causing delays in the signings.

Right now the following players are still unsigned:

No. 3 Tyson Jackson – Kansas City Chiefs
No. 4 Aaron Curry – Seattle Seahawks
No. 6 Andre Smith – Cincinnati Bengals
No. 8 Eugene Monroe – Jacksonville Jaguars
No. 9 B.J. Raji – Green Bay Packers
No. 10 Michael Crabtree – San Francisco 49ers
No. 11 Aaron Maybin – Buffalo Bills
No. 12 Knowshon Moreno – Denver Broncos
No. 14 Malcom Jenkins – New Orleans Saints
No. 18 Robert Ayers – Denver Broncos
No. 19 Jeremy Maclin – Philadelphia Eagles

It is extremely important for teams to get their first round picks in camp early. The more time a rookie misses in practice, the longer it will take them to adapt when the regular season begins. Long holdouts never turn out good. It’s all about finding that happy medium.