Josiah St. John’s new contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders will likely make him the highest paid 2016 CFL Draft pick.
The No. 1 overall pick and the Riders ended a long contract impasse by coming to terms on a three-year deal on June 29.
Sources say the Oklahoma product will make $77,000 in base salary for 2016 with $25,000 paid in a salary advance – the most up front money of any 2016 draft pick.
| Taken | Name | Salary | Term | Team |
| N0. 1 | Josiah St. John | $77,000 | 2+1 | Riders |
| No. 2 | Philippe Gagnon | $72,000 | 2+1 | Alouettes |
| No. 3 | Brandon Revenberg | $77,000 | 2+1 | Ticats |
| No. 5 | Charles Vaillancourt | $74,000 | 2+1 | Lions |
| No. 7 | Jason Lauzon-Seguin | $75,000 | 2+1 | Redblacks |
| No.10 | Michael Couture | $75,000 | 2+1 | Bombers |
If St. John is on the Riders’ active roster for six games in 2016, he’ll collect over $80,000 in his first CFL season. And playtime incentives – if reached – could improve that total even more.
St. John will also receive the most “guaranteed” money over the three-year term (around $280,000 without playtime bonuses) of any 2016 pick, though it is still shy of the contracts doled out to Alex Mateas and Sukh Chungh (more than $290,000 each) who were selected No. 1 and 2 in 2015. Chungh earned more than Mateas last season via playtime bonuses because he started all 18 games for Winnipeg in his rookie campaign.
After Saskatchewan picked the six-foot-five, 309-pounder on May 10 the two sides went through a deadlock in negotiations, while St. John said he would hold out until the regular season and then asked for a trade.
