Mario Urrutia's four-year deal is worth the minimum -- reportedly

RealTime Fantasy Sports links to a KFFL.com source that Scout.com reports that Bengals wide receiver Mario Urrutia's four-year contract is a deal with "minimum base salaries" and a $39,000 signing bonus. We're not sure of the validity of the report. The fact it's referenced through three sites -- without finding the actual link (I spent 20 seconds with the site's search engine) -- and I seriously doubt that Urrutia's status as an NFL player would prompt an agent to leak the information against the wishes of the Cincinnati Bengals since their policy is not to announce deals until after they're signed.

What's a "minimum deal"? Chick Ludwig explains.

Excluding signing bonus, a rookie who signs a four-year deal is staring at minimum salaries of $295,000 (2008), $385,000 (2009), $475,000 (2010) and $565,000 (2011).

At the time of this writing, the NFL Players Association hasn't filed any contract yet.