Now that wide receiver Kendall Wright has agreed to his rookie contract, the Tennessee Titans believe he will quickly make up for lost time away from training camp.
Wright was one of two remaining holdouts among first-round picks, the other being Jacksonville receiver Justin Blackmon, but agreed to a four-year, $8.2 million deal with a $4.47 million signing bonus.
Wright will report on Wednesday and, under the new rules of the CBA, cannot practice in a full team session until Saturday.
Titans coach Mike Munchak says Wright showed during the off-season what a quick learner he was, and the Titans expect that to carry over into camp and beyond.
“He's too smart a kid. He caught on so quickly early on in our OTAs,” Munchak said. “We'd rather he'd have been in here, but this works out fine. He does his testing tomorrow. He's on his three day count where he can be full go and be here for the full practices Saturday, Sunday and Monday.”
Offensive coordinator Chris Palmer is excited to have Wright back as well.
“I think he'll be ready to go. We went through the OTAs. He a bright young man and I think he'll pick up right where he left off,” Palmer said. “I don't think anybody out here ever left practice in the off-season thinking he was lost.”
Wright and the Titans had been stalemated over a pair of issues – one being the amount of guaranteed base salary in the fourth and final year of the deal. The other issue was with offset language that, if included, would give the Titans the right to recoup money in the event Wright does not play out the entire four-year contract and signs with another team.
Wright's deal is worth the same as last year’s No. 20 overall pick Adrian Clayborn got from the Tampa Bay Bucs in 2011. However, the deal is structured differently and not all of Wright's final year money is guaranteed. There are other bonuses in place to help make up for the non-guaranteed fourth year.
Regarding the other issue, the Titans did have offset language placed in the contract, according to a source.
- Terry McCormick
- co-publiser of TitanInsider - Lions247