Free Agents Signings

Undrafted rookie free agents for all 32 NFL teams - NFL.com

Carolina Panthers

San Jose State WR Michael Avila; Wofford FB Eric Breitenstein; Louisiana Tech QB Colby Cameron; Rice TE Taylor Cook; Sam Houston State WR Trey Diller; USC DE/OLB Wes Horton; William & Mary DL Bryan Jean-Pierre; South Carolina LB Damario Jeffery; Colorado State P Pete Kontodiakos; Alabama S Robert Lester; Abilene Christian K Morgan Lineberry; Jacksonville State G Tori Mobley; Georgia Tech LS Tyler Morgan; Wheaton OT Jesse Peterson; Michigan DE Craig Roh; Louisiana Lafayette CB Melvin White; Penn State FB Michael Zordich

Perhaps the biggest name on the list is Alabama safety Robert Lester. He started in 40 of his 48 career games with the Crimson Tide, switching from free to strong safety in his junior season.

Craig Roh Draft Profile

Bottom Line
While Roh never established himself as an elite playmaker, this is something to be said for starting 51 consecutive football games. Throughout his career, Roh has grown from a 250-pound linebacker to 280-pound end. Roh is physical, smart, and works hard. While he lacks elite athletic ability or an explosive element, if he continues to add weight, he can stick on rosters as a 3-4 defensive end (five-technique).

 

When your iso tape shows had bad you suck...

 

Big pile of poop.

 

Somewhere in this big pile of poop will be our Superbowl MVP.

 

Fun fact: (totally irrelevant to this years crop)

How important are undrafted FAs? 15 in Pro Football HOF. That's 2 more than top overall pix & 7 more than Heisman winners.

Carucci tweet

 

While impressive stat, compare the total number of first overall picks (one every year) to the total number of free agents rookies every year (16x32 = 512).

 

fun fact, sure, but not as counter-intuitive as one might initially think. The same argument is made about the number 2 star college recruits that end up as first round picks vs the number of 5 stars that do. Since there are only 30 or so 5 stars each year, compared with thousands of 2 stars, the odds are in the 2 stars favor as far as making it all the way to first round status...in other words, despite each 5 star individually having a greater chance than any 2 star, the field of 2 stars ends up providing a lot of the 1st round picks.

Same argument could be made for NFL hall of fame. There are only 32 first round picks each year, but hundreds of UDFA...

There is certainly an opportunity to improve your roster relative to your competition via just your UDFA hall...if one of these guys ends up as a contributor, he does so at a very small cost, and is worth his weight in gold while he's still on that rookie deal. The Giants certainly cant complain about the contract situation they're in with Victor Cruz; since picking him off the scrap heap, however, he's increased his value exponentially and now the Gmen are about to pay the price.

Clearly, this is where the scouting department can hit unlikely home runs, and the mind-set for success should be - in my mind - finding guys that will be able to easily handle the professional workload and stress-level. That's why I like the Robert Lester's of the world, because they're less likely to pull a Dwayne Jarrett and flake out of the league. Clearly, not everybody does handle the transition well; outside of injury, its why many draft picks never get that lucrative second contract. If I were running the scouting department, I'd rate guys on 4 fundamental parameters: (1) physical talent, (2) mental talent, (3) professionalism, & (4) fit/need. Of course, the hard part is finding rigorous and reliable ways to measure and analyze the data towards this end.

ETA: another quick tangent: I'm beginning to be rather weary of guys who grew up on & never left the west coast who end up getting selected by an east coast team like Pittsburgh or New England (or us, even). The Troy Polamalu's of the world are the exception, not the rule. Dwayne Jarrett I think would be one example, and for those familiar with UNC bball, Larry Drew II & the Wear twins (i.e., Mary Kate & Ashely) are another more typical example of west-coasters-that-couldnt handle-the-east-coast-culture-shock.

 

I'd also be interested in the breakdown on when those undrafted free agents entered the league. I'm wondering if most were a long time ago.

 

Was thinking that too. Of course, to play long enough plus wait the five years, you'd have to go back a good ways even for the recent inductees.

I didn't realize the draft started in 1935. The Wiki is a good read:

National Football League Draft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia