After making two trades up the board within their first selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots found themselves with a 75-pick hole between the late third and early fifth round. They closed said hole by selecting Wake Forest cornerback Karon Prunty 171st overall.
Shortly thereafter, Prunty became the first of the team’s draft picks to sign his rookie contract. He put his signature under a four-year deal worth just under $4.81 million. Here is how it breaks down in detail.
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CB Karon Prunty: Contract details
Base value: $4,807,348
Maximum value: TBD
Guarantees: $427,348
Signing bonus: $427,348
2026 (age 24):
Base salary: $885,000
Signing bonus: $106,837
Salary cap hit: $991,837
2027 (age 25):
Base salary: $1,050,000
Signing bonus: $106,837
Salary cap hit: $1,156,837
2028 (age 26):
Base salary: $1,165,000
Signing bonus: $106,837
Salary cap hit: $1,271,837
2029 (age 27):
Base salary: $1,280,000
Signing bonus: $106,837
Salary cap hit: $1,386,837
There are no surprises with Prunty’s deal; this is a standard contract for a rookie selected at this stage of the draft. Of course, as a fifth-round pick, his pact carries a lower overall and annual value than that of the player selected right before him, third-round tight end Eli Raridon.
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The monetary investment is not the only difference between those two particular deals. Unlike Raridon, for example, Prunty does not make the Top-51 list at the moment. This means that, unless 12 higher-compensated players get the axe, he will hit the Patriots’ Books with only a fraction of his in-season cap hit during the offseason: only his fully-guaranteed $106,837 signing bonus proration is currently counted.
As for the deal as whole, it is pretty straight forward. His salaries include no guarantees, and his $427,348 signing bonus alone wouldn’t keep the team from releasing him this year or at any point thereafter.
Prunty also is eligible for a Year 4 pay bump under the league’s performance escalator program. His 2029 salary (and, by extension, cap hit) might end up increasing depending on his playing time and output over his first three seasons in the league.
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