Friday was a busy day for the Detroit Lions. They opened up rookie mini-camp, announced new uniform numbers for all their rookies, tried out six veteran players and nine rookies, Terrion Arnold talked about jamming his mother in the dirt and Dan Campbell did not attend due to personal reasons.
Lost in all of that is the Lions signed four of their 2024 NFL Draft picks to their rookie deals per the team. Offensive lineman Gio Manu, running back Sione Vaki, Offensive lineman Christian Mahogany and defensive lineman Mehki Wingo are now all under contract.
This tracks with the Lions past when it comes to signing draft picks. The lower round guys are typically signed right away while the guys taken in the early rounds tend to take a little more time. For reference, here’s what the Lions rookie signings looked like last year:
- Jahmyr Gibbs: July 17th
- Jack Campbell: May 23rd
- Sam LaPorta: June 15th
- Brian Branch: July 18th
- Hendon Hooker: May 12th
- Brodric Martin: May 15th
- Colby Sorsdal: May 9th
- Antoine Green: May 10th
The terms of the deals for the four rookies are not known yet, but we’ll be sure to update this story as soon as they are.