A complete financial breakdown of the contract was not yet available, but the deal is believed to be worth $5.3 million-$5.6 million. SportsLine.com did confirm that the signing bonus is $2.15 million, not $2.5 million as published reports originally indicated.

Most of the details of the contract, negotiated by Ethan Lock and Eric Metz with Colts president and general manager Bill Polian, were completed between late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and Morris signed the deal later in the day and reported to training camp.

The former Brigham Young star was drafted with the intention of moving him immediately into the starting lineup and Indianapolis coaches are still hopeful Morris will be ready to line up with the No. 1 unit by the regular-season opener. It is not certain if Morris will even suit up when the Colts play host to Atlanta on Saturday in the opening preseason contest.

The Colts released Michael Barber, last year's starting middle linebacker, during the spring and made it clear they wanted to upgrade at the position. With Morris out of camp, nine-year veteran Jeff Brady has been the starting middle linebacker.

Morris was the 28th player selected overall in the draft. His signing leaves only four first-round picks -- defensive tackle Corey Simon (Philadelphia), wide receiver Travis Taylor (Baltimore), offensive tackle Chris McIntosh (Seattle) and wide receiver Sylvester Morris (Kansas City) -- still without agreements.

Originally a fullback when he entered college, Morris moved to the defensive side about halfway through his freshman season in 1993. He spent 1994 and '95 on a Mormon mission in Canada, then was redshirted in 1996. He became the starting middle linebacker in 1997 and in his final three seasons totaled 337 tackles and earned all-conference honors each year.