Chris Nelson, Gary Johnson, LJ Humphrey, Andrew Beck, Calvin Anderson, Breckyn Hager, Davante Davis, and PJ Locke should all read this article. And this may be one bit of advice that is particularly relevant:
Put the draft in the past. For undrafted free agents, it’s now all about minicamp and a great first impression
By Ross Tucker Apr 30, 2019
18
A word of advice to any undrafted free agents out there who may still be bitter about the fact that they weren’t selected in the 2019 NFL Draft this past weekend: You better get over it. And quickly.
That’s not to say the rejection shouldn’t sting. Getting picked in the draft was a lifelong dream for these guys that didn’t come true, a goal they feel they didn’t accomplish. But the truth is, it should never have been the goal in the first place; they should be striving to play in the NFL by making an actual roster, not just by being drafted, even though that event has taken on a life of its own and has glamorized the process of being selected as a result.
Either way, their best, and maybe only chance, begins with the first rookie minicamp, which for many teams is this weekend.
I often wonder how many of these undrafted free agents realize just how important this weekend really is. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, as the saying goes, and opinions start to form almost immediately for all the guys taking part in these minicamps. Coaches and executives are eager to “see what they have” and begin to take note of which guys have a chance and which ones really don’t.
Some UDFAs are fueled by the anger of not getting drafted, but frankly, in my experience, just as many are never really able to mentally recover. That makes some sense when you consider that for many of them — not all of them, but a good amount —it is the first athletic adversity they’ve faced. Growing up, a good amount of these players were always the best, usually in multiple sports. They got full-scholarships to big-time colleges in most cases and were roundly praised in their hometowns and then again during their outstanding college careers. For many, the draft was their first real rejection, and it can be difficult to handle.
I was the opposite. I knew I wasn’t going to get drafted and was just hoping and praying that I got signed by a team and had an opportunity to show what I could do. When my agent, Joe Linta, called well over an hour after the draft to tell me I was getting a shot with the Washington Redskins, I was ecstatic.
“You got minicamp this weekend,” he said, “and that’s really the only thing you have for sure. After that it’s up to you.”
By far the biggest way to stand out as a rookie, really one way or the other, is with your FBI: Football Intelligence. There is no tolerance for mental mistakes in pro football, and I’ve seen coaches stop giving reps to players who can’t figure things out quickly enough. On several instances, players like that get cut immediately after the first minicamp. Unless you have off-the-charts physical ability, which is rarely the case for an undrafted free agent, you simply aren’t worth the time.
Conversely, coaches love players who not only know what they are doing but do it the way the coach tells them to do it. My college offensive line coach, Stan Clayton, told me to practice the drills and skills the coaches were teaching during minicamp back in the hotel room at night so that when I was asked to do them the next day I would be more proficient than the others and the coaches would appreciate how I “picked things up quickly.”
It makes sense, right? A rookie like me that didn’t have any mental mistakes was proof that the line coaches were teaching us the plays and our assignments correctly, and as a result, they could believe that any error made by other linemen was simply a result of them being a “dumbass,” or not paying attention close enough.
The same thing goes for the specific techniques. These position coaches have been doing this their entire careers and have developed a way of doing things that they obviously think is best. If you show a willingness to learn it, and then have some success with it like I did, you become a sort of confirmation bias for that coach, and they’re more likely to keep you around.
It’s kind of fascinating how all of this happens so quickly for these undrafted free agents, and really within the confines of this one emotional rollercoaster of a week. The key for every single one of them is to realize that what happens this upcoming weekend is much more important than what happened last weekend.
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Conversely, coaches love players who not only know what they are doing but do it the way the coach tells them to do it. My college offensive line coach, Stan Clayton, told me to practice the drills and skills the coaches were teaching during minicamp back in the hotel room at night so that when I was asked to do them the next day I would be more proficient than the others and the coaches would appreciate how I "picked things up quickly."
Put the draft in the past. For undrafted free agents, it’s now all about minicamp and a great first impression
By Ross Tucker Apr 30, 2019
A word of advice to any undrafted free agents out there who may still be bitter about the fact that they weren’t selected in the 2019 NFL Draft this past weekend: You better get over it. And quickly.
That’s not to say the rejection shouldn’t sting. Getting picked in the draft was a lifelong dream for these guys that didn’t come true, a goal they feel they didn’t accomplish. But the truth is, it should never have been the goal in the first place; they should be striving to play in the NFL by making an actual roster, not just by being drafted, even though that event has taken on a life of its own and has glamorized the process of being selected as a result.
Either way, their best, and maybe only chance, begins with the first rookie minicamp, which for many teams is this weekend.
I often wonder how many of these undrafted free agents realize just how important this weekend really is. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, as the saying goes, and opinions start to form almost immediately for all the guys taking part in these minicamps. Coaches and executives are eager to “see what they have” and begin to take note of which guys have a chance and which ones really don’t.
Some UDFAs are fueled by the anger of not getting drafted, but frankly, in my experience, just as many are never really able to mentally recover. That makes some sense when you consider that for many of them — not all of them, but a good amount —it is the first athletic adversity they’ve faced. Growing up, a good amount of these players were always the best, usually in multiple sports. They got full-scholarships to big-time colleges in most cases and were roundly praised in their hometowns and then again during their outstanding college careers. For many, the draft was their first real rejection, and it can be difficult to handle.
I was the opposite. I knew I wasn’t going to get drafted and was just hoping and praying that I got signed by a team and had an opportunity to show what I could do. When my agent, Joe Linta, called well over an hour after the draft to tell me I was getting a shot with the Washington Redskins, I was ecstatic.
“You got minicamp this weekend,” he said, “and that’s really the only thing you have for sure. After that it’s up to you.”
By far the biggest way to stand out as a rookie, really one way or the other, is with your FBI: Football Intelligence. There is no tolerance for mental mistakes in pro football, and I’ve seen coaches stop giving reps to players who can’t figure things out quickly enough. On several instances, players like that get cut immediately after the first minicamp. Unless you have off-the-charts physical ability, which is rarely the case for an undrafted free agent, you simply aren’t worth the time.
Conversely, coaches love players who not only know what they are doing but do it the way the coach tells them to do it. My college offensive line coach, Stan Clayton, told me to practice the drills and skills the coaches were teaching during minicamp back in the hotel room at night so that when I was asked to do them the next day I would be more proficient than the others and the coaches would appreciate how I “picked things up quickly.”
It makes sense, right? A rookie like me that didn’t have any mental mistakes was proof that the line coaches were teaching us the plays and our assignments correctly, and as a result, they could believe that any error made by other linemen was simply a result of them being a “dumbass,” or not paying attention close enough.
The same thing goes for the specific techniques. These position coaches have been doing this their entire careers and have developed a way of doing things that they obviously think is best. If you show a willingness to learn it, and then have some success with it like I did, you become a sort of confirmation bias for that coach, and they’re more likely to keep you around.
It’s kind of fascinating how all of this happens so quickly for these undrafted free agents, and really within the confines of this one emotional rollercoaster of a week. The key for every single one of them is to realize that what happens this upcoming weekend is much more important than what happened last weekend.
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
