This weekend NFL teams would normally be holding their rookie minicamps. It would be the first opportunity for many rookie prospects have of making an impression on an NFL team and for many it’s their only opportunity. This year, it’s an opportunity a great many NFL hopefuls won’t get due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down NFL facilities.
Breaking into the NFL is incredibly difficult. Each offseason every NFL team adds some 37 new players to the roster. The vast majority of those players are rookies. And between April and September those rookies must do enough to convince the team to choose them over a player on the team the previous year or an established veteran.
The odds of those rookies accomplishing that goal go up considerably if they were drafted by the team and those drafted on the first two days are almost assured a spot.
Following the completion of this year’s draft, Raiders GM Mike Mayock said the lack of offseason activities, including Rookie Minicamp, played a role in the Raiders not attempting to trade into one of the final three rounds. In fact, they had a pick in the fifth round and traded it to move up in the fourth round
“We didn’t have any sixth or seventh-round picks heading into this weekend and one of our concerns was, depending on what happens with the pandemic, we think there’s a pretty good chance we’re not going to see our rookies in person until maybe training camp,” said Mayock. “The further down you get in the draft, the more concerns we had about a kid being able to compete, realistically compete to make the roster.”
The logical next thought is if those drafted in the final three rounds will have a tough time making the roster with no offseason activities, what chance to the undrafted players have?
Most years NFL teams sign between 10 and 15 undrafted players. And as we all know, there are always a handful who make a strong enough impression to stick around for the season, either on the roster or the practice squad.
Last season 24 players who went undrafted spent time on the Raiders roster. That included starters Tyrell Williams, Nicholas Morrow, and Erik Harris and rookies AJ Cole, Lester Cotton, Keelan Doss, Alec Ingold, Andre James, Keisean Nixon, and Justin Phillips.
Currently the Raiders have added a reported five undrafted rookies. How are they supposed to make an impression to show the Raiders they deserve a shot ahead of any of those already on the roster who have previously earned their spot or on whom the team used a draft selection?
NFL agent Nicole Lynn, has been known for representing a fair amount of young hopefuls who broke into the NFL through unconventional means. In this year’s draft, she repped tackle Jedrick Wills who was taken 10th overall by the Browns, but her list of NFL clientele includes the likes of current Raiders safety Erik Harris and former Raiders undrafted rookie turned starter, Seth Roberts.
“I made my bread and butter on undrafted guys,” said Lynn. “There are really a lot of good players in those undrafted pools, but I hope one of them doesn’t get missed because of the lack of exposure this year.”
The issues the pandemic lockdown has caused for this year’s rookie crop started well before these players having to attend a virtual rookie minicamp. It started with pro days being canceled back in February and March. What it meant was those players who weren’t invited to the combine, or who were rehabbing an injury at the time, weren’t able to work out for NFL scouts. That shapes the class of priority undrafted free agents as well.
If you think there’s an uphill climb for the priority undrafted players, think about the challenge tryout players are facing. They won’t even be afforded the hill upon which to climb.
“The lack of a rookie minicamp is really the worst part for these prospects,” Lynn added. “Normally a team will bring in 20 or 25 guys for a rookie minicamp tryout. When you multiply that by 32 teams, you’re looking at like 700 players getting a chance to try out. So, that’s like 700 players that don’t get any exposure to an NFL team. So, to me that’s the worst part of the whole thing.”
It’s downright tragic, honestly. If you figure 2-3 tryout players will be signed by their respective clubs in an offseason, that’s as many as 100 NFL hopefuls whose NFL dreams could be lost due to this pandemic.
Players like Erik Harris and Jalen Richard didn’t break into the NFL as priority undrafted free agents. Harris took the CFL route and Richard was given a tryout at Raiders rookie minicamp and earned a contract. Harris started 15 games at safety last season and Richard tied for the team lead in receptions two seasons ago. They deserve to be here.
There are a lot of players just like them out there right now wondering how they are going to get in front of those who could give them a shot. If they don’t, we will never know what kind of talent could have been uncovered.
Hopefully the NFL is able to set up something for those prospects who were affected by this. Many of these players have worked too hard for too long for their NFL dreams to end like this.
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