HEADLINES

RJ Harvey

Broncos Sign Second-Round RB RJ Harvey, Complete Draft Class Deals

July 17th, 2025 at 2:59pm CST by Adam La Rose

Thursday continues to see second-round rookies agree to deals around the league. Running back RJ Harvey is among them.

Harvey and the Broncos have agreed to terms, Mike Klis of 9News reports. As the No. 60 pick in April’s draft, his four-year pact is worth a total of $7.36MM and includes a $1.99MM signing bonus. After missing the first day of training camp (for rookies), Harvey is now in the fold in time for the start of padded practices.

Guarantees were, like in all other cases in 2025, the sticking point between team and player. That draft slot saw a 53% guarantee in the past two years, as noted by Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald. In addition to the signing bonus and salary in the first two years of the pact being guaranteed, per standard practice, Klis reports Denver locked in 47.7% of Harvey’s Year 3 earnings to finalize the agreement.

Now that Harvey is in the fold, he can turn his attention to training camp. Denver’s backfield will be a unit to watch closely as the pecking order gets determined. The UCF product topped 1,600 scrimmage yards in each of his final two college campaigns. Harvey totaled 42 touchdowns over that span, production which helped make him one of many high-profile RB prospects in this year’s class.

The Broncos were clear about their intent to draft a running back fairly early, and doing so puts Harvey in place to handle a notable role as a rookie. Free agent addition J.K. Dobbins is also in the mix after a long-running communication period with the team. Those two, along with returnees Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime, will spend training camp carving out their respective roles as the Broncos aim to improve their ground game.

With Harvey on the books, the Broncos’ entire 2025 draft class is now signed. Here is how that group looks:

33 Unsigned 2025 Draft Picks Remain

July 9th, 2025 at 9:19pm CST by Ely Allen

The NFL has hit a logjam and is collectively lagging far behind where it normally is at this point in the offseason. Two years ago, the league hit its last 30 unsigned players before July. Last year, teams were signing rookies as quickly as they were drafting them, and only 10 players remained unsigned by June 17. A couple intriguing situations have caused pens to go quiet in 2025, and as a result, here are the 33 remaining unsigned rookies of the 2025 NFL Draft:

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 4:

  • No. 107 (Jaguars): Jack Kiser (LB, Notre Dame)

In recent years, a trend has seen second-rounders lasting the longest, but what we’re seeing this year is unheard of. As rookies have been getting a bit of flexibility in negotiating structures of guarantees, getting deals done has become a waiting game of seeing what surrounding picks are getting for comparison. Last year, teams breezed through the issue, but 2025 has seen significantly increased troubles.

Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins set the tone by signing a fully guaranteed rookie contract, the first ever for a second-round selection. The next day, the Browns were essentially forced to do the same for Carson Schwesinger, picked one slot before Higgins. Shough, the Saints rookie quarterback, is seeking the same deal, hoping that his elevated status as a passer will help convince New Orleans to continue making history. Shough’s efforts have caused every pick between him and Higgins to stand pat, waiting to see if they get to ask for full guarantees from their teams, as well. This would be a drastic development, as last year’s 40th overall pick, Cooper DeJean, received only two fully guaranteed years with only partial guarantees in Year 3.

The biggest story outside of the second round is that of the standoff between Stewart and the Bengals. Stewart has issues with what he perceives as a lack of protection in Cincinnati’s offer that causes a contract default in any year to void any guarantees in all the following years. It’s a new precedent the team is trying to set, and Stewart seems intent on preventing them from doing so.

It will be interesting to see which standoff gets settled first: Stewart’s or Shough’s. The latter standoff ending would likely set off a domino reaction of second-round deals that would help a large number of teams close out their rookie classes. To this point, only four NFL teams have done so.