Broncos, RJ Harvey finally come to terms on rookie contract

It’s been almost three months since the NFL Draft, but the Denver Broncos finally have their two top picks signed to contracts.

After first-round pick Jahdae Barron signed his rookie contract Tuesday night, second-round pick RJ Harvey followed suit and put pen to paper on a four-year, $7.35 million contract on Thursday. The contract also has a $1.99 million signing bonus.

KUSA-Ch. 9’s Mike Klis was the first to report the news.

Harvey was slotted in for roughly $1.99M signing bonus as part of 4-yr, $7.35m contract. Only missed one full day of rookie training camp, maybe two. https://t.co/Bc8XozcWnl

— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) July 17, 2025

For the Broncos, rookies reported for pre-training camp work on Wednesday, so Harvey is slightly behind the ball, but not enough that it should affect his playing time. He was the last of the Broncos’ seven rookies from the draft to sign a deal.

While it took a long time for Harvey to ink the deal, he’s actually on the earlier side compared to the rest of the second-round picks around the league, as everyone else wants guaranteed money in the deal. It began when the Houston Texans gave wide receiver Jayden Higgins, the No. 34 overall pick, a fully-guaranteed contract. Thus, other second-round picks want contracts with the same arrangement, even though that has not been standard operating procedure for Round 2 selections.

The 24-year-old’s deal is not fully guaranteed, but it’s a better deal than other guys drafted in the same spot in previous years. He will have the first two years guaranteed, along with 47.7% of his year 3 salary. Chicago Bears tackle Ozzy Trapilo had 72% of his third season guaranteed, and given that he was taken four spots ahead of Harvey at No. 56, that number is one that is fair for both Harvey and the Broncos.

Per source, Broncos guaranteed 47.7% of RJ Harvey's year 3 salary to get deal done. That's 47.7% more than previous No. 60 overall picks received.
Nice bump for the rookie running back.

— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) July 17, 2025

Harvey, 24, turned heads during minicamp earlier in the offseason with his big frame and the burst he put on display. After two outstanding seasons at UCF in which he put up 2,993 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns on 458 carries, Sean Payton and the rest of the Broncos front office knew that he was their guy to try and rewrite a rushing attack that was lackluster at best in 2024.

The rest of the team reports to training camp on Tuesday.

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