Editor's note: Former BYU center Scott Jackson writes on the NFL Draft for the Deseret Morning News.
So it is all over, or should I say it has just begun? I'm officially a Tampa Bay Buccaneer? It took a long time to find that out, but I'm excited about my prospects with the team.
I spent the entire day in front of the television and next to the phone. Picks would come and go while I watched anxiously. The final two rounds I started to see some activity. I was getting calls from my agents telling me that teams were calling about drafting me, but after they told me that, I would see that they had already made their selection and it wasn't me. Then during the very last picks, right when my teammate Colby Bockwoldt was picked by the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers called me and told me that they were interested in me. They had one more pick available, and I waited for another call. The call never came, and they picked a center from Tennessee.
I knew at that moment that I had zero chances of being drafted. Other teams had called telling me that they didn't have any other picks available but they wanted to sign me as an undrafted free agent. I couldn't commit to any team until the draft was over, so I weighed the options as the draft came to a close.
With the final pick came the realization that I would not be drafted. I had prepared myself mentally in case that would happen, but I was hoping that it wouldn't be so. When the last pick was taken, I was disappointed.
I could not let my emotions get in the way of me deciding between the teams that were offering me free-agent contracts. It came down to three teams — Jacksonville, Buffalo and Tampa Bay. We saw that my best opportunity to play was with Tampa Bay, so we agreed to a three-year contract with the Buccaneers. I was excited to officially become a professional football player despite the disappointment of not being drafted. I was thrilled to know that I would be playing only an hour away from my in-laws, who live in Orlando.
I have a lot of mixed feelings after this long day, but I'm glad that I can put it behind me and start fighting for a roster spot, because it doesn't matter how you got there but what you do once you're there.
— Scott