An eligible NFL draftee who watches the draft come and go without being selected shouldn't let his hopes fade away too quickly...especially if he's on the Patriots radar.
New England has been known to sign undrafted rookie free agents and keep them on their 53-man roster heading into the first week of the season.
Some examples of this are Mike Wright, Pierre Woods and Randall Gay. All of these guys have played a role on the Patriots during their time on with the team, and Gay recently landed a deal with the New Orleans Saints after showing tremendous potential in New England.
With that being said, here's the list of guys the Patriots signed after this year's draft:
- OL Josh Coffman (East Carolina)
- DB Mark Dillard (Louisiana Tech)
- DT Carlos Feliciano (Maryland)
- RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis (Mississippi) (shown in above image)
- LB Gary Guyton (Georgia Tech)
- DL Chris Norwell (Illinois)
- OLB Vince Redd (Liberty)
- NT Henry Smith (Texas A&M)
- TE Jonathan Stupar (Virginia)
- DE Casey Tyler (Portland State)
- C Ryan Wendell (Fresno State)
Rookie Mini-Camps started today, and some of these guys look really good out there, according to Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe.
First round pick Jerod Mayo has been spending his time at weakside ILB, with Bo Rudd at strongside ILB. Shawn Crable and Vince Redd were working the outsides.
During a press conference, Bill Belichick said, "It's always an exciting time of year to work with new kids and see their eagerness and start at a very fundamental level. Just the very most basic terminology and plays and techniques and all that. It's a good reminder of where everybody has come from.
"Certainly these guys have a long way to go, but they're all out there, they seem to have a good attitude, working hard. We met with them this morning, gave them a lot of information, and it seemed like they were able to handle most of it. We'll get those things corrected, give them some more this afternoon, and just keep plugging along.
"It's good to be back out there. We had a lot of bodies out there. We'll have to evaluate some of those and see how that all shapes up roster-wise going forward, by the end of the weekend."
I can't wait to see how much these guys can contribute as we continue the off-season.
Comments (11) Add a comment »
from 14 days ago
I always love to cheer for the second day picks and the undrafted free agents, you gotta love it.
from 13 days ago
i like to cheer for these guys too, but we dont want them all being too successful. If these guys can go undrafted and become all pros then it renders the draft useless. I do hope these guys can contribute though.
from 13 days ago
Tom Brady was a 7th rounder, wo you never know what might happen with an undrafted player
from 13 days ago
6th rounder ... your point remains intact though.
from 13 days ago
Haha my bad
from 13 days ago
I wonder if this is the start of the Pats replacing the "aging" LB's..........
You should post this at TheScoreBoards.com-it'll help to keep the Pats fans there up to snuff with whose been picked up after the draft.
from 12 days ago
Guyton is a stud, he'll be good for whatever team gives him a chance. 6-2 245 pounds and runs a 4.47 40, he's a freak athletically and his stats weren't half bad either (78 tackles 5 sacks 13.5 TFL,) He could be a great player in this league if he brushes up a bit on reading plays and toughens up a little, I hope he stays in Foxboro.
from 11 days ago
The real question is whether or not the Pats hired a better film crew or perhaps a speech coach for Belicheck.
This team had their run (and it was a miraculous one), and I had the glorious opportunity of watching it crumble in person this year to Eli "opie" Manning. While they'll continue to win the AFC East and make the playoffs I doubt you'll see Tom Brady in another Superbowl anytime soon. They continue to look more and more like the 2001-2005 Colts every year; with a high-powered offense and a suspect defense.
But the true source of Patriots demise is Karma ladies and gentleman, and what better way to exact it, than an undefeated Patriots losing to a New York team.
from 11 days ago
Can any article get away without somebody cracking irrelevant jokes?
from 11 days ago
Not when it's about the Patriots.
from 10 days ago
Yadda yadda yadda.....people have been saying that the Pats aren't going to make it to the super bowl since 2000. They've made it there there how many times in the last 7 years? How many did they win? How many teams have they dominated? How many records did they shatter? To say that there at the end of their reign is nothing more than an opinion.....and we all know what opinions are like.
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