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NEWS AND INFORMATION ON THE NFL DRAFT |
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Undrafted rookie class grades by Colin Lindsay, Editor and Publisher, Great Blue North Draft Report August 2, 2011 In the end, it all tends to be much ado about nothing as the large majority of undrafted rookie free agents signed by NFL teams in the past week or so will be released before the actual regualr season starts next month. Still, each year, a gem or two tends to defy the odds and emerge as a quality pro player down the road. And while like the draft the signing of undrafted free agents tends to be something of a crapshoot, according to our very unscientific ranking system, the early returns suggest that Chicago, Seattle and the Giants may have the best chance of finding this year's gems. We do stress that this ranking is very unscientific. As we do every year we take the top 150 or so undrafted players left on the GBN Big Board and assign a somewhat arbritary point value based on their original draft grade. Obviously, the higher the original draft grade, the higher the point count on this ranking with the highest point value going to those among the top 30 remaining undrafted players. As such, this ranking is a large degree dependent on how accurate our original rankings actually were. At the same time, the value assigned to the different levels among the undrafted players is somewhat arbitrary from a statistical analysis perspective. That said, here's a quick rundown on what appears to be the top undrafted rookie free agent classes out there. 1. Seattle: Nobody ever said that Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll couldn’t recruit and the Seahawks ‘recruited’ well this year signing four of the top 18 undrafted rookies on our list including Boise State S Jeron Johnson, who was the 3rd rated undrafted rookie free agent on our list, along with Nebraska DE Pierre Allen, another top 10 guy at #8, Fort Valley State WR Ricado Lockette and Uconn OG Zach Hurd. 2. New York Giants: The Giants only signed 10 rookie free agents, but all of them were on the list premium undrafted prospects. Indeed, the Giants signed 4 of the top 30 players on our list of top undrafted free agents, including former Boston College LB Mark Herzlich and South Carolina OT Jarriel King, as well as 6 of the top 45. 3. Chicago: The Bears signed only one top 30 undrafted player in former Northwest Missouri State CB Ryan Jones, but made up what they may have lacked in quality with quantity as the team signed 17 players off the overall listing of top undrafted players, 5 more than any other team in the league. Among the players the Bears signed were former UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe, former Ohio State WR Dane Sansenbacher and former Notre Dame RB/FB Robert Hughes. 4. Philadelphia: The Eagles have had arguably the best off-season period of any team in the NFL and could also have had the league’s best undrafted rookie signing class, but former star West Virginia Noel Devine left the team after just a couple of days of practice which cost Philadelphia a couple of points. The Eagles were still able to sign a couple of outstanding undrafted prospects in former Kentucky RB Derreck Locke and big Southern Arkansas DT Ced Thornton, along with several other intriguing second-tier types. 5. Indianapolis: The Colts were one of the last teams to announce their undrafted rookie classes, but still got a great haul that included Maryland LB Adrien Moten, Rutgers S Joe Lefeged and Virginia Tech RB Darren Evans. 6. Baltimore: The Ravens were able to sign a pair of top 20 undrafted prospects in Missouri C Tim Barnes and Auburn LB Josh Byrnes as well as some good depth. 7. Houston: The Texans were second in the entire NFL in signing a dozen players off the full list of top undrafted rookie free agents including one top 10 prospect in LSU WR Terrence Tolliver. 8. New Orleans: The Saints were able to sign a total of 11 players off the full list of undrafted free agents including former Clemson safety DeAndre McDaniel, the top-rated undrafted rookie free agent on our list. 9. Green Bay: The rich get richer as the Super Bowl champion Packers signed a couple of top 30 undrafted prospects including former Arkansas G/T Ray Dominquez who we had rated as the #5 guy overall, as well as South Carolina WR Tori Gurley. 10. Denver: The Broncos did not sign anyone off our top 30 listing, but were able to sign a total of 11 premium free agents including four on our original pre-draft Top 300 Big Board. And the rest of the field: 11. Arizona 12. Minnesota 13. St. Louis 14. Pittsburgh 15. Jacksonville 16. San Diego 17. San Francisco 18. Tampa Bay 19. Dallas 20. Carolina 21. Kansas City 22. Buffalo 23. Atlanta 24. Cleveland 25. Miami 26. New England 27. Washington 28. New York Jets 29. Cincinnti 30. Detroit 31. Oakland 32. Tennessee 33. Edmonton (CFL) *********
Honorable mention 2010 pro day work out warriors: Penn State TE Mickey Shuler, who was not invited to the combine, also made some noise at the Nittany Lions' pro day as the 6-4, 250-pounder ran the 40 in around 4.65 seconds, had a 37.5-inch vertical jump and must be practising his jumps on the trampoline; did 28 reps in the bench and posted times of 4.25 seconds in the short shuttle and a 6.70 in the 3-cone, each of which would have been among the leaders at the position at the combine. Fellow Penn State Andrew Quarless and LB Sean Lee also ran well posting times of 4.57 and 4.62 for the 40 respectively. Meanwhile, no 2010 draft prospect did more for himself during his school's pro day positional drills than Northwestern QB Mike Kafka who threw the ball extremely well at the Wildcats on-campus workout.
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