Colts officially sign first round pick Malik Hooker

The Indianapolis Colts today have continued officially signing their draft picks with the biggest one of them all: first round safety Malik Hooker.

Our own Andrew Aziz projects that Hooker’s contract with the Colts will be a four-year deal worth $12,632,851 with a $7,292,589 signing bonus and a cap hit of $2,305,146 in 2017. One of the most significant details regarding Hooker’s contract, however, is that since he’s a first round pick there will be an option for a fifth year. That’s a big benefit to the team.

Hooker is of course the biggest domino to fall when it comes to the Colts’ rookie signings, since he’s their first round pick. From a larger perspective, however, it also means that most of the Colts’ picks are under contract, as they have six of the eight of them signed. Hooker, Quincy Wilson, Zach Banner, Marlon Mack, Nate Hairston, and Anthony Walker have all signed, leaving just Tarell Basham and Grover Stewart left to officially sign their deals. As we’ve said numerous times before, the rookie wage scale makes it so that these deals typically get done much, much sooner than they used to. We should expect to see the Colts wrap up their final two draft pick signings pretty soon.

The Colts drafted Hooker with the 15th overall pick and were thrilled that he was even available at that pick, as they expected him to be off the board at that point in the draft. When he fell to them, it made their decision pretty easy. Hooker is a very good coverage safety who can be a legitimate playmaking centerfielder. As we’ve heard often from Chris Ballard, Hooker has instincts and ball skills that make him an incredibly intriguing and highly thought of prospect. He has room to keep growing but should step in right away as a starter for Indy and help considerably in the areas of coverage and turnover production.