Quiz time, football fans: What do Antonio Gates, Kurt Warner, Wes Welker, Chad Lewis, Tony Romo and James Harrison all have in common?
If you said they all played in the NFL and excelled, you’re right.
But if you said that 32 teams passed them over in the draft — that they latched onto teams as undrafted free agents — go to the head of the class.
Nobody wanted them — at least not badly enough to choose them in the draft.
In a typical year, only 256 players are chosen in the draft — seven rounds, 32 teams, plus 32 compensatory picks assigned by the league. There are 2,016 players on NFL rosters during the regular season (53-man active roster, plus a 10-man practice squad). About 30% of those spots were filled by undrafted free agents in 2019, per Over the Cap.
That’s indicative of how difficult it is to evaluate talent. Even after months (or even years) of studying players, teams still fail to draft a lot of good players. They sign the leftover players for practice bodies and to give them a closer evaluation.
Writer Mick Smiley reported that in 2017, 774 players were “regular contributors” — defined as playing at least 40% of the offensive or defensive plays. Of those players, 133 of them — or 17% — were undrafted free agents. They not only made the team and found playing time, but they played a significant amount.
Among the players who were were undrafted: Romo, Priest Holmes, Rod Smith, Gates, Phillip Lindsay, Warren Moon, Welker, Jeff Saturday, Harrison, Warner, John Randle, London Fletcher, (Utah State’s) Cornell Green and (Utah’s) Manny Fernandez and Manny Hendrix. Scouts can be forgiven for overlooking Hendrix, Green and Gates — they played basketball in college, not football.
Holmes was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Gates is the most prolific tight end in league history and headed to the Hall of Fame. Fletcher started 215 consecutive games as an undersized linebacker and played in three Pro Bowls.
Romo was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and a four-time Pro Bowl selection. Welker retired with more than 16,000 all-purpose yards, played in five Pro Bowls and caught 903 passes, breaking the record for catches by an undrafted player previously held by Smith, who played 13 seasons in the NFL.
When Moon, the co-Player of the Year in the Pac-8 Conference, completed his eligibility at the University of Washington, the draft consisted of 12 rounds — a total of 336 players were chosen. And still he went undrafted in 1978. He played six seasons in the Canadian Football League before an NFL team signed him as a free agent. He threw for almost 50,000 yards in the NFL and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Randle, a defensive tackle, was named to the NFL’s 100-year team and inducted into the Hall of Fame. Harrison, who won two Super Bowls with the Steelers, was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and became the only undrafted player ever to be selected Defensive Player of the Year.
Lindsay has rushed for 2,000 yards in two seasons with the Broncos and became the first undrafted rookie ever to play in the Pro Bowl.
Warner is the greatest undrafted free agent story ever. After completing his college career at Northern Iowa in 1994, he was signed then cut by the Green Bay Packers — a team whose coaches included Mike Holmgren, Steve Mariucci, Andy Reid and Jon Gruden. It would take four years before he would make the roster of an NFL team.
He stocked shelves in a grocery store, played arena football, played European ball and in 1998 caught on with the St. Louis Rams as their third-string quarterback. A year later he led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory. He was twice voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and his 12-year NFL career took him to the Hall of Fame.
A number of Utah collegians have also found success as undrafted free agents, especially those from BYU. Former BYU quarterback Taysom Hill has become a versatile offensive weapon for the New Orleans Saints as a running back, receiver and wildcat quarterback. He had seven touchdowns running and receiving last season.
Safety Daniel Sorensen, another undrafted free agent from BYU, has had an outstanding six-year career as a nickel back and safety for the Kansas City Chiefs. Last season he had 44 solo tackles and two interceptions en route to a win in the Super Bowl.
Lewis, a tight end at BYU, was selected to three Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team and caught the game-clinching touchdown pass in the 2005 conference championship game to send the Eagles to the Super Bowl, which they lost to New England. He had 229 career catches.
Former BYU safety Aaron Francisco collected 218 tackles in six seasons with the Colts and Cardinals and played in the 2008 Super Bowl with the Arizona Cardinals. For better or worse, he was part of one of the Super Bowl’s most famous plays — he was defending Santonio Holmes when Holmes caught the game-winning pass.
BYU alum Chris Hoke was another undrafted free agent who, after signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, spent most of his first three seasons on the inactive roster. He wound up becoming one of the team’s mainstays for eight seasons and won two Super Bowls.
There are hundreds of similar stories in the league and there will be more of them in the months that follow this week’s draft.
Correction: The original version of this column stated the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2005. They lost the Super Bowl to New England that year, 24-21.