Vikings already kicking Packer ass
Interesting Excerpts from a McGinn article on the undrafted free agent class...Green Bay ended up with what appears to be a ho-hum collection of talent. Long a leader in production from free agents, the Packers’ 14-man contingent seems down in quality from previous years.
“Nothing exciting about this group,” an AFC executive in personnel said. “A low-budget accumulation.”“Lot of small-school guys,” the executive said. “It’s a pretty average group overall.”
The breakdown of the 14 shows eight from major programs (FBS), four from FCS programs, one from NCAA Division II and one from NCAA Division III.
Last week, the Minnesota Vikings released a list of 17 rookie free agents that had agreed to terms. The Vikings (13-3 in 2017) are the team that the Packers (7-9 in ’17) must catch in the NFC North Division.
Of the Vikings’ 17 undrafted players, 14 came from FBS programs and three from FCS. I had discussed nine of the 17 with scouts.
Holton Hill of Texas was my No. 12 cornerback, Tray Matthews of Auburn was my No. 13 safety, Roc Thomas of Jacksonville State was my No. 14 running back, Hercules Mata’afa of Washington State was my No. 21 edge rusher and Garret Dooley of Wisconsin was my No. 25 edge rusher. I also had asked scouts about wide receivers Jeff Badet of Oklahoma, Korey Robertson of Southern Mississippi and Jake Wieneke of South Dakota State, and defensive tackle Curtis Cothran of Penn State.
How did the Vikings secure so many of the better undrafted players to join them?
“They bought them,” said a source familiar with the Vikings’ financial practices. “They guaranteed money on the base (salary).”
Rob Brzezinski, the Vikings’ executive vice president of football operations and lead contract negotiator, guaranteed portions of the base salaries for all five players whose contract data was available. Those guarantees were $35,000 for Robertson, $30,000 for Dooley, $15,000 for Cothran and $10,000 each for Badet and defensive end Jonathan Wynn of Vanderbilt.
...
“A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't." - Tom Waits
@"AGRforever" said:@"MaroonBells" said:@"Jor-El" said:@"Geoff Nichols" said: The past 2-3 years the Vikings have really made a shift in how they approach UDFA and the early returns have made them become even more aggressive. The Patriots have been guaranteeing UDFA base salaries for years (to much success) and now other teams are starting to realize its an easy way to add good depth to the roster. Good depth in the sense that a lot of these guys do have the potential to compete for a roster spot.When all is set and done if any of the UDFA's made the final 53 it costs the Vikings nothing additional. If they end up cutting them they still have the potential to stay home on the PS or walk away with the Vikings taking a measly $10-30K in dead money.
It just seems like a natural outgrowth of dropping the draft from 12 rounds to 7 - I'm only surprised it took 20 years for some teams to realize there were a few more rounds of potential players available after the draft ended.
Interesting point of fact: When John Randle went undrafted, the draft was 12 rounds, making his path to stardom even more impressive.
you have to subtract out comp picks and at least the panthers and jags picks. not sure if theres enough to get a whole round or two?
Good question. There used to be 28 teams picking for 12 rounds, so 336 picks.
Now there 32 picking for 7 rounds, 224 picks. The NFL awarded 32 comp picks in 2018, so a total of 256. That's a difference of 80 more players picked prior to 1994.
One factor hard to consider is the quality of college players in 2018 vs. 1994. I think there are more high-level programs now, but players going to the NFL sooner probably brings that down significantly.
Edit Post (mod action — author will see a notice)
Warn Poster
Suspend User (3 days)
The user will be suspended for 3 days and will receive an email with the reason and information about how to appeal.