Lost and found: undrafted free agents face the longest of odds, but there have been plenty in recent years who have made it out of the NFL wilderness

Football Digest, Dec, 2002 by Barry Wilner

THEY ARE THE FORGOTTEN masses from college football, the guys who sit through two days of the NFL draft and never hear their names called. Some really don't expect to be chosen; others are crushed when none of the 32 NFL teams selects them. All go into the same pool: undrafted free agents.

It is not a place an aspiring NFL player wants to be. "When you're not picked in the draft, then you have to be twice as good as the next guy just to get a look," says Rod Smith, who went from the unchosen out of Missouri Southern in 1995 to an All-Pro receiver and two-time Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos. "That's from day one in mini-camp right through training camp and [preseason] games. Sometimes that won't even get you on a team for the season."

Despite those challenges, the list of undrafted players currently making their living in the NFL is impressive. Some of the more prominent names include: quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Jeff Garcia; receivers Smith, Wayne Chrebet, Oronde Gadsmen, Terrence Wilkins, and David Patten; running backs Priest Holmes, James Allen. Dominic Rhodes, Mack Strong, and Stacey Mack; offensive linemen James "Big Cat" Williams, Derrick Deese, Jeff Saturday, Matt Lepsis, and Mark Dixon; defenders Eric Hicks, London Fletcher, Hollis Thomas, Sammy Knight, Willie Whitehead, and Pat Williams; kickers Adam Vinatieri and Olindo Mare; and punter Tom Rouen.

Those players have followed in the footsteps of the likes of Dave Krieg, Deron Cherry, San Mills, and Joe Jacoby, who had long careers in the NFL even though they weren't drafted.

"There are 6,000 draft-eligible players every year, and only 300 can be invited to the NFL combine," says player agent Robert McManus. "If the NFL really knew how to do their jobs, all of the 300 combine invitees would be drafted.

"But less than 200 are drafted. Of those 200 drafted, only about two-thirds make it in Year 1, and only half get a second contract. The other 50 draft picks come from guys who had great workouts their senior year. The NFL calls them late bloomers. Wrong! The league just missed them the first time."

Warner played at Northern Iowa, far off the NFL's radar. His receivers there were mediocre, and the competition was so-so. Although Warner received an invitation to the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, he was so nervous in the company of quarterback Brett Favre and coach Mike Holmgren that he barely could take a snap.

As a result, Warner was cut. He wound up playing in Arena Football and NFL Europe and was a third-stringer with the St Louis Rams in 1999 before fate--in the form of starter Trent Green's season-ending knee injury in training camp--opened an opportunity for Warner. Now he's a two-time league MVP with a Super Bowl ring and has one of the biggest contracts in sports.

Warner's Cinderalla story has taken a turn for the worse this season. The Rams have been a major disappointment, and he's out with a broken little finger on his throwing hand. But you can be sure Warner will be back. The guy, after all is a master at overcoming adversity.

Although Warner is the most celebrated example of a player who initially slipped through the cracks but then found a place in the NFL there are plenty of other examples. Saturday, a center, was cut by the Baltimore Ravens in 1998 before catching on with the Indianapolis Colts the following year.

"You know, you have to keep your head on a swivel," Saturday says of the obstacles faced by undrafted free agents. "You're always afraid they'll give a draft pick the nod over you. I don't know if there's ever really a sense of comfort. Terrence Wilkins [formerly Saturday's teammate on the Colts] and I used to talk about how amazing it was that we could go from where we were to where we are now. That's a tremendous accomplishment to play on Sunday, especially when you come from where we did."

Chrebet also came from out of nowhere, specifically from Division 1-AA Hofstra on Long Island. However, that happens to be where the New York Jets have their training facility. Each year, as a courtesy to the school, the Jets invite one or two Hofstra players to the spring minicamp. In 1995, when Rich Kotite took over as coach, Chrebet was among the Hofstra invitees, one of a dozen wide-outs the Jets had in camp.

The 5'10" (a charitable listing) Chrebet began making all kinds of catches from whoever was throwing, from the starter to the fifth-stringer. He began getting open against the regular defensive backs as well as the scrubs. By the opening of training camp, he had seized Kotite's attention. And by the end of the summer, he was on the team. He's been a mainstay on New York's offense ever since.

"It's just a matter of getting the chance and doing something with it," Chrebet says. "Lots of guys work hard, lots of guys have pride and desire. So you have to match that, then do something more. If you prove yourself every day and make it hard for them to ignore the things you can do, you have a great chance to make it. There have been a lot of guys like me."