Ryan Izzo signs four year deal with New England Patriots

Former FSU tight end Ryan Izzo has signed a four-year rookie contract with the New England Patriots.

Some FSU fan were surprised to see Ryan Izzo declare for the NFL Draft after his junior season.

However, it looks like he made has paid off as he signed with the New England Patriots who drafted him in the seventh round of the NFL Draft last month.

Izzo is a player Willie Taggart targeted hard to influence him to return to FSU for his senior season once he became head coach.

It’s a move that probably would have seen Izzo more productive stats wise, but I’m not sure it would have catapulted him up the draft boards much higher than where he was taken this year.

According to Overthecap.com, the terms of Izzo’s four-year deal are below via the NFL Rookie Wage Scale:

Thoughts

As I wrote about Auden Tate, the age of these players can be a factor in them deciding to speed up their NFL career.

Some FSU fans may not realize this, but Ryan Izzo will be 23 years old in December. If he came back to FSU for his senior season, that would have put him at 25 years old at the end of his rookie year in the NFL.

As you can see, the NFL rookie contracts are four years, so he’d he almost 30 years old trying to get a second NFL contract.

So it made sense to leave FSU when he did, not to mention he’s not going to get faster or improve dramatically over what he is at this point.

The great news is he got drafted by a great organization with arguably the greatest quarterback of all time and should have at least another two or three years with him.

Next: Fans React To Ryan Izzo Declaring For NFL Draft

Not to mention he can learn from Rob Gronkoski who’s one of the best tight ends in the game while getting paid much more than he would have made his senior year at FSU.