How the NFL lockout affects undrafted free agents

This year’s NFL lockout has a notable impact on just about everyone involved with football. Thus far, it’s affected the operation of the draft, kept some rookies from receiving playbooks, caused some veteran players to sponsor their own versions of training camps, launchedprotracted court battles and even served as an excuse for one owner to slash his employees’ pay.

However, its largest effect to date may be on undrafted free agents, who have been kept in limbo since the draft thanks to the lockout. ESPN‘s John Clayton called them one of the many true victims of the labor strife, as they haven’t been able to sign with teams, train properly or even know if they’ll have a NFL job this coming season.

The lockout isn’t uniformly negative for undrafted free agents, though. In a typical year, most undrafted free agents are snapped up in a frenetic couple of hours after the draft, and the urgency and speed involved means that they don’t always find the team that’s the right fit for them. Prominent NFL agent and National Football Post columnist Jack Bechta wrote last week that the lockout’s prevention of the usual undrafted free agent feeding frenzy could be beneficial for those players from at least one standpoint, as they and their agents now have more time to study which teams’ schemes and personnel needs might make for good fits for them.

In an interview with The Good Point, Bechta said he always considers a wide variety of factors when trying to place undrafted free agent clients, but this year’s lockout and the undrafted free agent signing freeze that it has brought has allowed him to examine those factors in much more detail than usual.

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“First and foremost, the team must show interest,” he said. “I look at the depth chart, the age and contract of players at same position, special teams needs and system fit. The time allows me to look and debate all factors, even to research their practice squad players from previous years, which can take some time.”

Brad Gagnon, editor of The Score‘s Goal-Line Stand NFL blog, agrees with Bechta that the delay may wind up being more beneficial for undrafted free agents than the chaos of the regular system.

“Mass confusion helps nobody,” Gagnon said. “The current process can be extremely detrimental to the players, and even the teams. You’ve got 32 franchises trying to get a leg up on one another, and since undrafted free agents are cheap and can be tossed aside at any point later on, there’s no risk involved for teams who want to carelessly throw offers in multiple directions. It’s not healthy for the players and their agents, who might be inclined to accept the first proposal they see, knowing full well that stopping to think could cost them dearly.

“Because of the work stoppage, teams, players and agents are being given a chance to digest what happened in the draft and assess where they stand. Teams also have a chance to collect their thoughts and make more deliberate offers. Do things suck right now because these undrafted players are out of work? Sure, but all players are out of work. So yes, I’d say that this is actually a favourable situation for the undrafted free-agent pool.”

Despite the advantages of extra time for both undrafted free agents and teams, don’t expect this delay to become a regular occurrence in non-lockout years. Bechta said a one-week delay would be ideal from his point of view, but he expects the NFL to return to the status quo on undrafted free agents.

“They will most likely stick to the current system,” he said.

Still, this year’s unique circumstances could wind up helping some undrafted free agents, and the delay in signings could wind up being more important than the problems posed for them by the lockout. Gagnon gets Clayton’s point about the issues around undrafted free agents not being able to train with teams or receive playbooks, but he thinks those are less important factors for undrafted free agents than simply signing with the right team in the first place.

“I understand what Clayton’s saying, but considering how few undrafted free agents actually make rosters, I don’t know if that’s a large factor at this point,” Gagnon said. “If you’re an UDFA who defies the odds and makes it, it’s because you’re a freakishly good athlete who was underestimated during the draft process or you have a freakishly brilliant mind and gripped the playbook faster than your drafted peers. You see this all the time.

“The point is, you’re special. And if you’re special, you’re going to find your way onto a roster regardless. Would a 2010 work stoppage have changed things for LeGarrette Blount or Chris Ivory or Sam Shields? I doubt it. Those are talented and/or smart players who slipped through the cracks for a variety of reasons on draft day. The funny thing about Clayton’s argument is that he uses Blount as his primary example, but Blount didn’t touch the Buccaneers’ playbook until Sept. 6.”

However, as with most things, having too much time since the draft can be a negative. At the moment, the maximum benefits of extra time to think about teams’ situations Bechta describes have already essentially been reached, but the damaging aspects of the lockout Clayton details are going to continue to become more pronounced as further weeks pass. Gagnon said undrafted free agents could still benefit if there’s a long lockout and the NFL tries to use them as replacement players, but otherwise, a speedy resolution to the lockout (or at least to the undrafted free agent signing freeze) would be best for them.

“The sooner the better,” he said. “With the draft well in the rear-view mirror, front offices, players and agents have had a chance to regroup and prepare for the process to begin.”

The signing freeze isn’t necessarily positive for all undrafted free agents either. While extra time can particularly benefit those undrafted free agents sure to be in demand, who now have plenty of time to consider which team might offer the best fit for them, those uncertain if they’d receive a serious NFL offer or not have a difficult choice to make. They can sit around and hope they’ll get some interest if and when the freeze is lifted, but if they don’t, they could be in a difficult spot, as other leagues like the UFL and CFL will largely have their rosters set by that point.

Gagnon said most undrafted free agents who would draw significant NFL interest don’t have a lot to worry about, but the ones on the bubble are in a tougher spot.

“The ones who aren’t sure to get offers are the only ones who might become restless and throw their names into other hats,” he said. “The guys who are fairly sure they’ll get UDFA offers have little reason to fret. Plus, if the excrement hits the fan and they find themselves still available come summer time (due to either a continuing lockout or tough luck during the signing process), they can still jump ship at that point.”

“I’m pretty sure these guys are already on the radar, and they’ll remain on the radar throughout the CFL and UFL seasons. Those who are panicking are either outliers or those who simply aren’t considered to be desirable from an NFL UDFA standpoint.”

There are a few of those outliers, though. Two notable ones are offensive linemen, Michigan State’s J’Michael Deane and Nevada’s John Bender. Both were selected in the third round of the 2010 CFL draft by the Calgary Stampeders, and they opted to sign contracts with the CFL team this week despite receiving some NFL interest.

Michael David Smith wrote at Pro Football Talk that a long lockout might see more players following that path.

“The longer the lockout lasts, the more appealing the CFL and UFL will look to players who just want to play football and get paid for doing it.”

That view’s at least partially endorsed by Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel, who said Tuesday that while the NFL lockout has complicated many matters, it also may have produced an increase in the amount of quality players looking to try their luck north of the border and helped Deane and Bender choose to come to Canada instead of waiting for the NFL to call.

“I was very pleased with the talent we had at our free-agent camp in DeLand, Florida,” Hufnagel said. “Whether or not those players did want to think of testing the NFL waters, because of the muddy waters this lockout has created I’m not aware of what their actual thoughts were. With the two players we just signed, I know it created a lot of confusion for them over the past two weeks since the NFL Draft, because with no lockout, they would have known what their destiny was. Here, they had to make a decision, and we’re very fortunate with the decision they made.”

That particular decision probably isn’t going to be repeated by too many of the more prominent undrafted free agents, especially as the CFL has gone to mandatory two-year minimum contracts. The UFL is less stringent, and has even agreed to waive its usual $25,000 transfer fee if undrafted free agents sign with its teams and later leave for the NFL once labor peace is established. Still, many prominent undrafted free agents like Boston College’s Mark Herzlich are planning to wait for the NFL, and they and their agents now have more time to research which teams might be the best fit.

It’s a complicated situation, but for those prominent undrafted free agents, the NFL lockout may wind up being a blessing in disguise.

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