Last may, the Browns drafted the rookie cornerback in the seventh round, but the player has been injured.
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu was drafted by the Browns in the seventh round in May 2015, but will now be the first player to ever collect on draft value insurance because he will now be spending his entire rookie season sitting out the games on the non-football injury list.
While many had expected him to be a first round pick, that was changed when he was injured in December 2014.
According to a recent CBS report, Ekpre-Olomu will soon be collecting on his draft value insurance policy, which has a value of $3 million. The player was injured during a practice at the University of Oregon. He will be the first player to ever receive payments from that type of policy, said Total Planning Sports Service head, Keith Lerner. “His hope is that he is going to come back and play,” said Lerner, adding that “Hopefully he’ll come back and have a great career.”
Draft value insurance is paid to a covered player who slips a round lower than previously projected by a panel of experts.
For Ekpre-Olomu, the expectation had been that he would be selected within the first round. However, the reality was that he was the 241st pick, which was made by the Browns. The policy was underwritten for Lloyd’s of London by Total Planning Sports Services.
Last year, the University of Oregon paid for the loss of value insurance premiums for a number of its players. Aside from Ekpre-Olomu, another player whose coverage was paid by the college included Marcus Mariota, the quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy. NCAA bylaws make it perfectly legal for colleges to pay for these insurance premiums on behalf of the players.
According to Lerner, for every $1 million of insurance coverage, it costs around $8,000. A number of leading college players are now purchasing loss of draft value insurance due to the risk that they face during this critical point in their careers. For instance, Cedric Ogbuehi purchased this type of policy, which was paid for by Texas A&M. That said, despite the fact that he experienced a knee injury last December, the offensive tackle was still snatched up by the Bengals during the first round this year, so he won’t need to collect on his coverage.
