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The Indianapolis Colts today have officially signed fourth round tackle Zach Banner.
With the rookies arriving in town this weekend for rookie mini-camp it shouldn’t be surprising to see players officially sign with the Colts. We saw Quincy Wilson, Nate Hairston, and Anthony Walker sign on Thursday night, and Banner now becomes the fourth draft pick to sign with the Colts.
According to our own Andrew Aziz, Banner’s contract with the Colts is expected to be a four-year deal worth $2,931,189 with a $573,594 signing bonus and a cap hit of $593,227 in 2017. The CBA and the rookie wage scale have made it so that there’s not a ton of negotiation that needs to take place for these rookie contracts anymore, so we rarely see players go too long without signing.
The Colts now have half of their draft picks locked up, and we should expect to see the other four sign their deals at some point within the next few weeks. There’s not much reason to hold out, and the rookies should be around still working out with the team during the remainder of the offseason program. So at this point it’s just a matter of finalizing those details and getting the contract officially signed.
Banner was the first of the Colts’ three fourth round selections in this year’s draft, and the first thing that stands out about him is his massive size: he’s 6-9 and weighs 320 pounds. He was a three-year starter at USC and started 40 games overall, and it seems like offensive line coach Joe Philbin is a big fan of him. He was the Colts’ only offensive line selection in this year’s draft.