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By Diamond Leung

DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF

dleung@media.ucla.edu

Only a few months ago, they were UCLA football players. Now, they are rich football players.

After enduring the college game, the combine and the drama of the draft, it’s all finally paying off. As NFL training camps began last week, teams were ready to open their checkbooks.

Carolina Panthers running back DeShaun Foster has reportedly agreed to a multi-year contract just in time for training camp. The early second-round draft choice, who was the final Carolina rookie to sign, received a signing bonus worth about $2 million.

“I really wanted to be here on time,” Foster told the Winston-Salem Journal.

“This being my first camp, I wanted to get it done and get here so I could just worry about football. I’m trying to make a big impact quickly and running backs have got a lot of stuff to learn.”

Foster is expected to compete for a starting job.

The St. Louis Rams signed first-round selection Robert Thomas to a five-year deal worth $5.7 million on July 22.

“It was important to get the business end out of the way and move on to football now,” Thomas told ESPN.com. “I want to be focused on one thing, and now I can.”

Thomas, who is expected to start at weakside linebacker for the Rams, played the middle for UCLA. He was an All-American and the Pac-10’s Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

The Oakland Raiders’ fifth-round selection, defensive lineman Kenyon Coleman, has signed a five-year contract worth a little over $2 million.

Chicago Bears tight end Bryan Fletcher, a sixth-round pick, and Washington Redskins long snapper Jeff Grau, a seventh-round pick, inked three-year deals last week.

The San Diego Chargers released defensive tackle Anthony Fletcher on Tuesday, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, because he did not report to training camp.