PA Season Ticket Holder
04-30-2003, 08:30 PM
Coverage of the NFL draft annually shows players sitting nervously in front of television sets, hoping for teams to select them. What isn't shown on TV is what happens late on the second day of the draft when players routinely root against being picked at all, having been told by their agents that they would be better off being free to negotiate with any club.
"You start rooting against it sometime in the seventh round, depending on what team's picking at the time," agent Brooks Henderson said.
When the draft ended Sunday, a new round of player acquisitions began as teams scurried to sign undrafted players to free agent deals. Even after 262 players were selected Saturday and Sunday, clubs still were searching for gems, needing youth for their rosters and cheap labor for their salary caps.
"It's extremely competitive," said Vinny Cerrato, the Washington Redskins' director of player personnel. "With some of these guys, there are 17 or 18 teams after them. It's all the same guys that people are after."
As a free agent, a player can pick a team that he thinks gives him the best opportunity to be on a season-opening roster. And for the most highly sought undrafted players, there is little financial difference in being unpicked.
"To be perfectly honest with you, the whole process, I was hoping I'd be a free agent," said the Redskins' seventh-round pick, Indiana quarterback Gibran Hamdan.
The Redskins mostly had been bystanders throughout the draft, having been left with only three picks in the seven rounds after using four choices earlier in the offseason as compensation for restricted free agents and another in a trade. But they were determined to be successful in the increasingly competitive post-draft bidding.
"It was extremely important for us," Cerrato said. "We knew we were going to be a major player with the undrafted guys. We said we'd pay a little more than we normally would. We knew we were going to be in the running with all the guys we wanted, especially on the defensive side.
"A lot of it is about money. A lot is relationships. A lot of it is opportunity. . . . We batted about .750 with the guys we were after."
http://www.nflplayers.com/news/news_release.asp?id=872
"You start rooting against it sometime in the seventh round, depending on what team's picking at the time," agent Brooks Henderson said.
When the draft ended Sunday, a new round of player acquisitions began as teams scurried to sign undrafted players to free agent deals. Even after 262 players were selected Saturday and Sunday, clubs still were searching for gems, needing youth for their rosters and cheap labor for their salary caps.
"It's extremely competitive," said Vinny Cerrato, the Washington Redskins' director of player personnel. "With some of these guys, there are 17 or 18 teams after them. It's all the same guys that people are after."
As a free agent, a player can pick a team that he thinks gives him the best opportunity to be on a season-opening roster. And for the most highly sought undrafted players, there is little financial difference in being unpicked.
"To be perfectly honest with you, the whole process, I was hoping I'd be a free agent," said the Redskins' seventh-round pick, Indiana quarterback Gibran Hamdan.
The Redskins mostly had been bystanders throughout the draft, having been left with only three picks in the seven rounds after using four choices earlier in the offseason as compensation for restricted free agents and another in a trade. But they were determined to be successful in the increasingly competitive post-draft bidding.
"It was extremely important for us," Cerrato said. "We knew we were going to be a major player with the undrafted guys. We said we'd pay a little more than we normally would. We knew we were going to be in the running with all the guys we wanted, especially on the defensive side.
"A lot of it is about money. A lot is relationships. A lot of it is opportunity. . . . We batted about .750 with the guys we were after."
http://www.nflplayers.com/news/news_release.asp?id=872