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Maybe a Good Thing
John Tranchina
DallasCowboysStar.com
As nerve-wracking as it must be for some prospective NFL players to wait for their names to be called during the later rounds of the draft, it's understandable that they'd be disappointed if no team selected them at all.
Still, in the end, for some, not being chosen might actually be more beneficial because then the player becomes a free agent and has the freedom to choose his ultimate destination.
It all depends on the player and his particular circumstances.
This year, with the uncertainty of the labor situation, being picked in the draft was probably much more preferable, though, because clubs were not allowed to contact players about possible free agent contracts, and won't be able to until there is a resolution. That means those who went undrafted are left with a potentially long wait before they know where, or if, they'll play next season.
"I talked to a lot of teams and I knew I'd be a late-round guy," says center Bill Nagy, the Cowboys' seventh-round selection (252nd overall) out of Wisconsin. "It's just a great opportunity that it worked out. I'm really excited to be a Cowboy. This is kind of surreal right now."
Fellow seventh-rounder Shaun Chapas, a fullback from Georgia that Dallas snagged 220th overall, didn't really know beforehand if the Cowboys were a team that might pick him, but he was definitely happy to wind up with them.
"I wasn't sure," Chapas says of the Cowboys' potential interest. "I had a meeting with them at the combine and I really enjoyed meeting them there, and then the phone call when they told me they were going to pick me. But I didn't have that much contact with them. I just got the phone call telling me they were going to take me."
On the other hand, being more in control of exactly which organization you play for, and having the chance to consider whose depth chart might offer a better chance at making the roster, can be a big lure for players to hope their name isn't called as the seventh and final round winds down.
"It's better to not be picked and I was told that by my position coach at SMU," noted Cowboys cornerback Bryan McCann back in January, a 2010 undrafted free agent signee. "He came through, my defensive coordinator came through. I just had different people calling me, telling me it's better to not be picked. Just being a young guy, you always want to see your name going across the screen; it's a cool feeling. But looking back, everybody was right. It was better for me to pick the situation that I went into."
While that is probably true, one of the pervading sensations that just about every draftee feels once his name is put up on the board is a sense of feeling wanted, knowing that a team thought enough of him to claim him for their team. It's something that, logically, may not amount to much, but emotionally, has significant resonance.
"I was just happy that some team wanted me," said guard Kyle Kosier during the season, who was chosen in the seventh round (248th overall) by San Francisco in 2002. "I wasn't expected to get drafted high or drafted at all, so getting drafted was just an added bonus. I was probably going to wind up somewhere, it was just … to say you got drafted, that was a cool thing."
"I have to tell you, I would have loved to hear my name called, but from the looks of it, it worked out in my favor, so I'm not mad," acknowledged Cowboys safety Danny McCray in January, who signed with Dallas before last season as an undrafted free agent, picking them over four other clubs. "I got a few calls around the beginning of the seventh round and I got a few calls afterward. I figured I would have to pick somewhere to go, and I just ended up here."
That desire to feel like someone values your talents enough to spend a valuable draft choice on you hasn't changed over the years, either, as some former Cowboys echoed similar reflections regarding their own draft experiences.
"Obviously, you want to hear your name called early if possible, but if not, you just want somebody to call you," said former Dallas cornerback Larry Brown, a 12th-round selection (320th overall) in 1991 out of TCU. "I know all the guys, whether they're going first day, second day or third day, they're nervous just waiting for a team to say, 'You know what? We want you to come get on our team and get in our camp.'"
For former Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls, the sting of not being chosen in the 1981 draft left him with a chip on his shoulder that motivated him throughout his career.
"I saw that I wasn't going to get drafted, and on the second day, the Cowboys came to me with a free agent contract around the sixth, seventh, eighth round," recalled Walls, who led the team in interceptions a franchise-record five times, including a league-high 11 as a rookie in '81. "Think about that. The draft is not even over and they're already coming to me with a free agent contract. They already knew I wasn't going to get drafted and that kind of (upset me), too, because it lets me know that something's going on that I don't know about, but they do, about me, and I didn't like that."
Telephoning bubble players while the draft was still in progress to express interest has been a common practice teams have employed for many years, at least until 2011. Both Kosier and McCann were informed by several clubs that they would be targeted in free agency if they got that far.
"Actually, as I got drafted by San Francisco, the Giants had the next pick," Kosier recounted, "and they said, 'We're taking you with the next pick,' and I tell them I just got drafted by San Francisco. But there were other teams calling me saying, 'If you don't get drafted, we'll sign you as a free agent.'"
"They were even calling me before (the seventh round), to be honest," added McCann. "I was getting calls as early as the fifth and sixth rounds, saying, 'If you don't get picked up, we want you here.' I would say on draft day, there were five teams that were calling and all of them were interested. Obviously, I felt like this was a good decision for me. I picked to come here for a reason."
Of course, with the NFL lockout in place this year, those types of phone calls were not permitted, so it will be interesting to see how the delay between the draft and signing period affects the process once the ticket window opens.
With the success the Cowboys have had in the recent past finding some gems among their classes of undrafted free agents - from players like McCann and McCray last season to quarterback Tony Romo (2003) and receiver Miles Austin ('06) - their ability to get the guys they want will be a big step in rounding out the 2011 roster.
"It'll be just like unrestricted free agency, I'm sure," said Cowboys Executive VP and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones. "When they turn us loose, we'll go to work and see how it turns out. But that's been an important part of our acquisition of personnel, the college free agent process. It's something we always focus on. I have a lot of confidence that we'll have another good class."
As for the guys already chosen in the 2011 draft, they may not be able to work out at the club's Valley Ranch facilities until the lockout is lifted, but just knowing where they're going to be is a big thrill. And, the fact that Dallas chose them is even more exciting.
"It's the Cowboys organization," Nagy states simply. "I'm just really excited. Growing up a football fan and just knowing the tradition that the Cowboys have come up to and what the organization means, it's just really cool."
John Tranchina
DallasCowboysStar.com
As nerve-wracking as it must be for some prospective NFL players to wait for their names to be called during the later rounds of the draft, it's understandable that they'd be disappointed if no team selected them at all.
Still, in the end, for some, not being chosen might actually be more beneficial because then the player becomes a free agent and has the freedom to choose his ultimate destination.
It all depends on the player and his particular circumstances.
This year, with the uncertainty of the labor situation, being picked in the draft was probably much more preferable, though, because clubs were not allowed to contact players about possible free agent contracts, and won't be able to until there is a resolution. That means those who went undrafted are left with a potentially long wait before they know where, or if, they'll play next season.
"I talked to a lot of teams and I knew I'd be a late-round guy," says center Bill Nagy, the Cowboys' seventh-round selection (252nd overall) out of Wisconsin. "It's just a great opportunity that it worked out. I'm really excited to be a Cowboy. This is kind of surreal right now."
Fellow seventh-rounder Shaun Chapas, a fullback from Georgia that Dallas snagged 220th overall, didn't really know beforehand if the Cowboys were a team that might pick him, but he was definitely happy to wind up with them.
"I wasn't sure," Chapas says of the Cowboys' potential interest. "I had a meeting with them at the combine and I really enjoyed meeting them there, and then the phone call when they told me they were going to pick me. But I didn't have that much contact with them. I just got the phone call telling me they were going to take me."
On the other hand, being more in control of exactly which organization you play for, and having the chance to consider whose depth chart might offer a better chance at making the roster, can be a big lure for players to hope their name isn't called as the seventh and final round winds down.
"It's better to not be picked and I was told that by my position coach at SMU," noted Cowboys cornerback Bryan McCann back in January, a 2010 undrafted free agent signee. "He came through, my defensive coordinator came through. I just had different people calling me, telling me it's better to not be picked. Just being a young guy, you always want to see your name going across the screen; it's a cool feeling. But looking back, everybody was right. It was better for me to pick the situation that I went into."
While that is probably true, one of the pervading sensations that just about every draftee feels once his name is put up on the board is a sense of feeling wanted, knowing that a team thought enough of him to claim him for their team. It's something that, logically, may not amount to much, but emotionally, has significant resonance.
"I was just happy that some team wanted me," said guard Kyle Kosier during the season, who was chosen in the seventh round (248th overall) by San Francisco in 2002. "I wasn't expected to get drafted high or drafted at all, so getting drafted was just an added bonus. I was probably going to wind up somewhere, it was just … to say you got drafted, that was a cool thing."
"I have to tell you, I would have loved to hear my name called, but from the looks of it, it worked out in my favor, so I'm not mad," acknowledged Cowboys safety Danny McCray in January, who signed with Dallas before last season as an undrafted free agent, picking them over four other clubs. "I got a few calls around the beginning of the seventh round and I got a few calls afterward. I figured I would have to pick somewhere to go, and I just ended up here."
That desire to feel like someone values your talents enough to spend a valuable draft choice on you hasn't changed over the years, either, as some former Cowboys echoed similar reflections regarding their own draft experiences.
"Obviously, you want to hear your name called early if possible, but if not, you just want somebody to call you," said former Dallas cornerback Larry Brown, a 12th-round selection (320th overall) in 1991 out of TCU. "I know all the guys, whether they're going first day, second day or third day, they're nervous just waiting for a team to say, 'You know what? We want you to come get on our team and get in our camp.'"
For former Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls, the sting of not being chosen in the 1981 draft left him with a chip on his shoulder that motivated him throughout his career.
"I saw that I wasn't going to get drafted, and on the second day, the Cowboys came to me with a free agent contract around the sixth, seventh, eighth round," recalled Walls, who led the team in interceptions a franchise-record five times, including a league-high 11 as a rookie in '81. "Think about that. The draft is not even over and they're already coming to me with a free agent contract. They already knew I wasn't going to get drafted and that kind of (upset me), too, because it lets me know that something's going on that I don't know about, but they do, about me, and I didn't like that."
Telephoning bubble players while the draft was still in progress to express interest has been a common practice teams have employed for many years, at least until 2011. Both Kosier and McCann were informed by several clubs that they would be targeted in free agency if they got that far.
"Actually, as I got drafted by San Francisco, the Giants had the next pick," Kosier recounted, "and they said, 'We're taking you with the next pick,' and I tell them I just got drafted by San Francisco. But there were other teams calling me saying, 'If you don't get drafted, we'll sign you as a free agent.'"
"They were even calling me before (the seventh round), to be honest," added McCann. "I was getting calls as early as the fifth and sixth rounds, saying, 'If you don't get picked up, we want you here.' I would say on draft day, there were five teams that were calling and all of them were interested. Obviously, I felt like this was a good decision for me. I picked to come here for a reason."
Of course, with the NFL lockout in place this year, those types of phone calls were not permitted, so it will be interesting to see how the delay between the draft and signing period affects the process once the ticket window opens.
With the success the Cowboys have had in the recent past finding some gems among their classes of undrafted free agents - from players like McCann and McCray last season to quarterback Tony Romo (2003) and receiver Miles Austin ('06) - their ability to get the guys they want will be a big step in rounding out the 2011 roster.
"It'll be just like unrestricted free agency, I'm sure," said Cowboys Executive VP and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones. "When they turn us loose, we'll go to work and see how it turns out. But that's been an important part of our acquisition of personnel, the college free agent process. It's something we always focus on. I have a lot of confidence that we'll have another good class."
As for the guys already chosen in the 2011 draft, they may not be able to work out at the club's Valley Ranch facilities until the lockout is lifted, but just knowing where they're going to be is a big thrill. And, the fact that Dallas chose them is even more exciting.
"It's the Cowboys organization," Nagy states simply. "I'm just really excited. Growing up a football fan and just knowing the tradition that the Cowboys have come up to and what the organization means, it's just really cool."