mary owen Posted April 26, 2005 Posted April 26, 2005 http://www.nfl.com/draft/story/8416158 NEW YORK (April 24, 2005) -- The draft finished at 6:04 p.m. ET on Sunday night, and within minutes after the final player had been drafted (and in some cases, before the final player had been drafted), 32 teams will have been on the phone to try and sign undrafted free agents. While some fans might consider undrafted rookies as "leftovers," many NFL people see this as a bonus feast. I just got off the phone with an agent who was on the other line with the Raiders! I can't think of a better example of an undrafted rookie free agent from last year than Randall Gay of the Patriots. Gay started 10 games for the Patriots, including Super Bowl XXXIX. When I was with the Cowboys, we did extremely well with undrafted free agents. Two of our best defensive backs of all time, Cliff Harris and Cornell Green, were both undrafred free agents. In fact, Green never played college football; he was a basketball player at Utah State. Harris came from a small school (Ouachita Baptist) and went on to become a six-time Pro Bowl performer and a member of the NFL's Team of the 1970s. Another player, Drew Pearson, led the league in receiving two separate years. More recently, players such as John Randle, who recently retired from the Seattle Seahawks after years with the Vikings, played for double-digit years and was in numerous Pro Bowls. Two things take place. First, the agents representing these players start contacting teams and negotiating contracts over the phone. And teams will start calling players in hopes of negotiating contracts over the phone. Some teams give players prepaid plane tickets that enables them to leave their location and be in the city of the team the following day. Here's a laundry list of players, in random order, who might be NFL regulars someday, and they weren't drafted in 2005: George Gause, DE, South Carolina Ernest Shazor, SS, Michigan Kay-Jay Harris, RB, West Virginia Adam Bergen, TE, Lehigh Reggie Harrell, WR, TCU Will Matthews, FB, Texas Jason White, QB, Oklahoma Simon Fraser, DE, Ohio State Marcus Randall, RB/WR, LSU Jon Beutjer, QB, Illinois James Butler, S, Georgia Tech Matt McChesney, DT, Colorado DeCori Birmingham, RB, Arkansas Steve Fleming, TE, Arizona Matt LoVecchio, QB, Indiana C.J. Brooks, OL, Maryland
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