Players like Kurt Warner and Arian Foster are evidence of how important undrafted free agent signings can be. The archetypal undrafted free agents would be a player deemed too small or a product of their system, a one-time hot prospect who suffered a severe injury; a former basketball or rugby player looking to make it big; a local hero getting a chance under the bright lights; a top high schooler who never made it in college; a pure athlete with little football experience; a big talent with a bad attitude; or a one-season wonder. Even as recently as last year, unknown wide receiver Rod Streater became an impact player for Oakland.
This year, Lawrence Okoye was one of the highest-priority undrafted free agents. A Brit who participated in the Olympics last year, Okoye was called an "Adonis" by coach Jim Harbaugh and has great potential if he can adapt well to playing football. San Francisco also signed another player who's undergoing a position change, former Minnesota Gophers quarterback and current tight end Marqueis Gray.
The other UDFA signing you'll hear everyone talking about was Buffalo's signing of Da'Rick Rogers, a wide receiver, from Tennessee Tech by way of Tennessee, who fell because of character problems, like seemingly everyone. People are already talking about Rogers as a potential starter opposite Steve Johnson, but if he really is a probable starter, wouldn't he have been drafted?
I don't quite understand why Collin Klein is so widely ignored. He was a Heisman candidate in college...doesn't that count for something? The former quarterback was signed by Houston and is likely going to be converted to tight end.
Speaking of quarterbacks, teams often use undrafted players to fill their third or fourth quarterback spots. And clearly, some teams like to stay local; Baltimore signed Trent Steelman from Army, New Orleans signed Ryan Griffin from Tulane, Detroit signed Alex Carder from Western Michigan, Jacksonville signed Jordan Rodgers from Vanderbilt (yes, he's Aaron's brother), and Kansas City signed Kansas' Dayne Crist. Others didn't follow this pattern, taking their UDFAs from across the country, but they were not in the majority.
Other notable quarterbacks include Clay Belton from Findlay, a school which claims to be the "largest private university in northwest Ohio." Woohoo. He was signed by Miami. That's going to be a big change for him. Belton actually has a large chance of making Miami's roster, given that they have very little depth at the position. The most highly touted undrafted quarterback, Tyler Bray, joined Dayne Crist on the Chiefs. Don't be surprised if either one plays this season. With the Chiefs, anything could happen.
I was going to make a comment about the Falcons signing Casey Barth, brother of Bucs kicker Connor, but then I read that he was cut 11 days ago, along with someone named Momo Thomas. So much for that clever piece of trivia.
The Raiders, my favorite team, didn't get any big-name UDFAs (is there such a thing?) but they did sign Rice RB Sam McGuffie, one of my favorite college players, as well as some defensive lineman with three consecutive A's in his name.
Another different-sport conversion: Wisconsin-Milwaukee basketball player Demetrius Harris, whose Twitter page is still plastered with images of his former sport.
I noticed that the Chargers signed a cornerback named Marcus Cromartie. That rings a bell. Oh, that's right, there's another cornerback named Antonio Cromartie, a cornerback named Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and a safety named Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith. Yes, those three are related. No, Marcus is not related to them. No, you weren't the only one who was surprised.
But yeah, there are many, many more UDFAs, and you can see if your favorite hometown player made a roster here: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000164809/article/undrafted-rookie-free-agents-for-all-32-nfl-teams (Hopefully your favorite hometown player hasn't been cut by now like Casey Barth and Momo Thomas.)
Draft season is officially over, but minicamps are going on right now and rookies are getting their first opportunities to impress. More articles in the coming days!
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