What It’s Like To Be Undrafted
LBVikings
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So many NFL players take the same path into their first training camp: excel in college, but not enough to be drafted, and then sign on with a team in a last-ditch effort to make it through a training camp. These undrafted free agents fill out every team’s 90-man roster, and whenever one does make a team, it’s a story.
Adam Thielen, James Harrison, Wes Welker, Tony Romo and more signal hope for these kids teetering on the edge of irrelevance: work hard enough, and you can make it.
Josh Andrews went undrafted in 2014, but got a chance to make the Eagles. He’s now entering his 5th season in the NFL. He never got a chance to prove himself in a regular season situation, but Andrews kept making the team, camp after camp.
”you don’t know when your time’s going to be called”
”You just gotta take advantage of your time when preseason games come,” Andrews said. “Make sure that you’re on top of your game every time that you step out on the field because you don’t know when your time’s going to be called.”
In 2018, the crop of Vikings UDFAs is hungry. Take Tray Matthews, a safety out of Auburn. Matthews went through hell during college, but played just well enough to look like he had NFL potential. But to become an undrafted free agent, first you have to fall out of the draft.
”It was a crazy feeling, a feeling I thought I’d never feel before.” Matthews said of his experience on draft day. “But then again, maybe it could be a blessing in disguise. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder.”
“A feeling I thought I’d never feel before”
While undrafted free agents occupy the bottom rungs of an NFL team’s ladder, they’re often superstars in high school and college. Just a little less super than the superstars who hear their names.
Jonathan Wynn played very well at Vanderbilt, even alongside fellow future Viking Stephen Weatherly. As for his fall out of the draft, he took it in stride: “It never was a big deal to me. I realized I had the talent to be picked up.”
Wynn was right, as he signed with Minnesota. Surrounded by family, he got the call from Coach Zimmer that he’d be a Viking. That’s the roller coaster of an undrafted free agent – start on top in college, then fall down to earth on draft weekend, and a few hours after Mr. Irrelevant is picked, you’re back up with a new opportunity.
There’s the college players who are drafted, and the college players who sign after the draft. Then there’s a third tier – rookies who get invited to a rookie minicamp with no deal.
That applies to Mike Needham, who tried to sneak onto the Cardinals’ 90-man roster through rookie minicamp, but no dice. Everything seemed to be over until Hercules Mata’afa tore his ACL in Vikings OTAs. The Vikings gave Needham a call.
”It was crazy having a job one day, and then a couple days later not having a job,” Needham said. “I went about a month not knowing where I was going to be.” Of course, Needham mentioned how grateful he was to be picked up.
”I went about a month not knowing where I was going to be”
All of these players come from vastly different backgrounds, different schools, and different worlds. For the most part, the last year of their life has been a whirlwind. From their last year of college to the Combine, through the draft and into camp, the heat never turns down.
But as offensive line coach Clancy Barone will tell you, all of that is irrelevant now. They’re on even footing with the veterans, and it’s time to play. “Everyone’s going to make mistakes,” Barone said. “The only guys that don’t make mistakes are the guys who haven’t played. The big challenge, whether it’s a rookie or it’s a 12-year vet, is to correct the mistake.” May the best man win.
Any undrafted rookie can look to Josh Andrews for an example of how to impress in a training camp. After all, he’s done it four times with no other tape to go off of. His advice: “Just keep grinding. Keep looking at the playbook, and learn from the vets that are around you.”
It’s not lost on these players that they’re long shots. But don’t think for a second that it will slow them down.
Thanks for reading!
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