Patriots LB Spikes Under Contract
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald reported on Monday afternoon that rookie linebacker Brandon Spikes has agreed to terms on a contract with the Patriots.
According to the report the deal is for four-years, and will pay him $3.215 million with a signing bonus of $950,000.
His signing now leaves just cornerback Devin McCourty without a contract with just a couple days to go until the team opens their first public practice at Gillette Stadium on Thursday.
The rookie first round pick's deal had been reported as progressing, although Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston reported this morning that the reason why his negotiations are going so slow, is that so far only one other first round draft choice has signed - Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant - which doesn't give his agent, Andy Simms, the "framework" to build a deal from.
Simms had said last Monday that he had hoped that a deal would have been done before the end of last weekend, but obviously that hasn't been the case.
“There’s not a lot to discuss or report at this point, but we are speaking and have been the last couple of weeks,” Simms told the Herald last Monday. “Obviously, it’s a slow process. There’s some issues with the pending lockout, and working with option bonuses, but we’ve pretty much have figured out the best way to structure the deal and I’m very optimistic we’re going to get a deal done on time and I think the Patriots would say the same thing.”