During Triple Crown horse racing season, there's lots of talk about long shots trying to get the big payoff. In the NFL, those long shots are the undrafted free agents who were signed by teams in the hours immediately following the draft.
Most fans consider these players an afterthought, just training camp fodder for veterans and draftees. But that’s not how they're viewed by the general managers and coaches who know that on every team, a couple (or more) will make the 53-man roster or practice squad.
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We’re talking about players like quarterbacks Trevone Boykin and Jake Coker in Seattle and Arizona, respectively; linebacker Jeremy Cash in Carolina and Gronk's little brother, fullback Glenn Gronkowski, in Buffalo.
Each NFL team has filled out its roster by signing approximately 25 of these undrafted free agents to minimum-salary deals with modest signing bonuses, mostly in the $5,000-to-$10,000 range. These players are true underdogs who must compete with veterans in minicamps and OTAs as they prepare for training camp and battles for roster spots.
During my years as Vikings GM, we called this period "John Randle time."
Randle was our shining example of the hidden gems in the undrafted free-agent ranks … just as Tony Romo is to the Cowboys, and Arian Foster was to the Texans.
In 1990, upon recommendation from our player personnel staff, I signed Randle immediately following the draft to a minimum-salary contract with a $5,000 signing bonus. No team selected him in the then-12-round draft because he played his senior season at Texas A&M-Kingsville as an undersized defensive tackle (6-1, 240 pounds). But he had an NFL bloodline, as his brother Ervin played eight NFL seasons in Tampa Bay and Kansas City. Our scouts touted him as a raw talent with speed and strength, and we deemed him worth a shot.
With a relentless motor and an intense work ethic aided by some excellent coaching, Randle matured into a 287-pound, seven-time Pro Bowler who had eight double-digit sack seasons during his 14-year career. Brett Favre called him the toughest defensive player he ever faced.
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Brett Favre and John Randle in 1998 (Getty Images)
In 1998, I made Randle the highest-paid defensive lineman in the NFL at the time with a $32.5 million, five-year deal that included a then Vikings-record $10 million signing bonus (and John took less than what Miami offered in order to stay with us).
I was thrilled to attend John's enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, a testament to a player who beat the odds stacked against him.
Romo went undrafted in 2003 despite being an All-American at Eastern Illinois and the winner of the Walter Payton Award as the nation's top Division I-AA player. Today, the Cowboys’ longtime starting quarterback is a four-time Pro Bowler who has a career passer rating of 97.1 with 247 touchdown passes. In 2013, Romo signed a six-year, $108 million deal — not bad for a supposed training camp arm destined to be cut.
Then there's Foster, Houston's all-time rushing leader with 6,472 yards who is a four-time Pro Bowl selection. He had rushed for 1,193 yards during his junior season at Tennessee but had a subpar senior year and a poor pre-draft period in 2009 as he fought through a hamstring injury. Tennessee coaches reportedly labeled him as selfish and uncoachable, and he fell through the cracks of the draft.
Plenty of other undrafted players have become top NFL talents, such as Jason Peters, a tight end at Arkansas who has turned into an eight-time Pro Bowl tackle with the Bills and Eagles. Allen Hurns, the Jaguars wide receiver from Miami (Fla.), caught 64 passes for 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.
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Here's some interesting math on undrafted players. When I first joined the Vikings in 1976, there were 487 players selected in a 12-round draft. Since 253 players were picked in this year's seven rounds, that means 234 players who would have made up the eighth through 12th rounds now go undrafted. That's a lot of talent waiting to be tapped post-draft.
As the draft works its way through the seventh round, GMs, scouts and coaches look at their updated depth chart. They determine how many players they need at each position to fill out the roster. Then a list of players with draftable grades is constructed, followed by a list of players with priority free-agent grades.
Late in the draft, calls are placed by scouts and coaches to players and agents that are high on the free-agent target list to let them know of the team's interest in signing them if they are not drafted. Once Mr. Irrelevant is drafted with the final pick, chaos ensues. Teams hit the phones, calling players and their agents with offers. I once heard of a free agent getting $40,000 to sign after a bidding battle.
This is where a good agent is important. It’s critical for an undrafted free agent to weigh opportunity to make a team against the immediate value of the signing bonus. The goal for a player is to land where he has the best chance to earn $450,000 as a rookie on an active roster.
The agent group I consult with, IFA in Minneapolis, signed former Ohio State tight end Jake Ballard in 2010. He went undrafted and then received 20 offers, but IFA president Blake Baratz steered him to the Giants since they regularly carried at least four tight ends on their roster. It was a wise choice — Ballard became a starter on a Super Bowl-winning team in his second season.
Undrafted free agents, along with late-round draft picks, benefited when free agency and the salary cap came into existence in the early 1990s. Due to more roster turnover as a result of free-agent movement and with the cap, teams needed more lower-cost rookies to make the team and offset the high-salaried starters.
The increase in practice squad size from six to 10 players over the past few seasons has added further opportunity for undrafted players (with salaries over $100,000 per season for these players who try to impress their way onto the active roster).
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Which brings us back to the undrafted free-agent class of 2016 and the highly motivated players who want to prove that the inexact science of the NFL Draft missed the boat on them.
Boykin led TCU to a 12-1 record during a junior year in which he was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Seahawks brass is touting him as a legitimate candidate to be Russell Wilson's backup this season.
Coker has a winning pedigree after quarterbacking the Crimson Tide to a national championship last season, so don't count him out as he competes in Cardinals camp. The Panthers were excited to sign Cash, one of the highest-rated undrafted players, who was a hybrid safety/linebacker at Duke. He made 100 tackles last season and earned All-American honors.
Gronkowski was a three-time All-Big 12 selection who will try to make it in Buffalo as a fullback/H-back and special-teams player. His last name alone will get him extra attention from the coaches.
There are a multitude of other, less-publicized players seeking to beat the odds, make an NFL roster and eventually become starters. If they hit the jackpot, they will be the next John Randle — an undrafted player who winds up enshrined in Canton.
Jeff Diamond is the former president of the Titans and the former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.