The Giants Are Best in NFL for Picking and Using UDFA's

[BleedinBlue]

Hard to believe this article came from the Wall Street Journal, but that's where it's from - link

 

How the Giants Hunt for Treasure Team

Is Tops in the NFL in Signing Productive Players Who Weren't Drafted; Pulling Linebackers from Construction Sites

By ADITI KINKHABWALA - May 6, 2010

 

To fill out its roster, an NFL team can't rely solely on the handful of players it takes at the draft. So as soon as the show at Radio City Music Hall ends, it's time to set about the business of sifting through all the names that weren't called.

 

This process isn't glamorous—it's sort of like showing up at the beach with a metal detector looking for a stray gold earring. But by one key measure, the Giants aren't just good at this, they're the best treasure hunters in the NFL.

 

The Giants have six undrafted players on their current roster who played in a game last season. Those six saw action in 86 total games and made 58 starts. That means that on average, they played in more games (14.33) and made more starts (9.67) than their counterparts on any other NFL team.

 

The next best team by this measure is the San Diego Chargers, who got just over six starts, on average, from the 13 undrafted players who played in a game for them. The NFL's worst team in this category, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, only managed to get nine combined starts from the 13 undrafted players on the team who saw game time.

 

Giants general manager Jerry Reese, a former scout, is loath to suggest his team is better at unearthing the hidden gems among the undrafted players who tumble out of the NFL Draft each year. "We pay our scouts well," he said, "but I think every team in the National Football League pays its scouts well."

 

Nevertheless, the Giants' success in this department is indisputable. After no other team offered Chase Blackburn a tryout, the Giants pulled the linebacker off a construction site in 2005. He's played 79 games since—and started 16 in the last two years. After only one other team offered Bruce Johnson a tryout last year, the Giants signed the cornerback and watched him return an interception for a touchdown against Dallas in the season opener.

 

Guard Rich Seubert, another undrafted player, has been a full-time starter the past three years, and undrafted center Shaun O'Hara, who originally chose to sign with the Cleveland Browns instead of the Giants, is a captain and nine-year starter who has played in the Pro Bowl.

 

Players, agents and other NFL executives say part of the Giants' success is self-perpetuating. The team's long history of taking these players and giving them valuable roles makes ambitious players more interested in coming to Giants training camp. Duke defensive end Ayanga Okpokowuruk didn't even bother asking his agent how much more the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers were offering to pay him before agreeing to sign with the Giants 12 days ago. "I felt like it was an educated and calculated risk," said Mr. Okpokowuruk, who has a computer-science degree. "I felt this was a situation where I would get the best, most fair look."

 

The Giants also seem to excel in the frantic hours after the draft, when the team has to persuade undrafted players to come to the Meadowlands.

 

If the Giants are seriously interested in a player, they don't mind sweetening the pot. While agents say most undrafted players get between $3,000 and $10,000 as a signing bonus, the Giants spent $25,000 to lock up Penn State lineman Dennis Landolt this year.

 

Mr. Landolt's agent, Billy Conaty, says the money was great, but it was the team's reputation that made the difference. "I don't know if you should tell the Giants, but we would've come for less money," Mr. Conaty said. "It's a good coaching staff and they keep their players for a while. Everyone knows that."

 

The team also seems to foster a welcoming environment for players who didn't strike it rich at the draft. Mr. Johnson, the undrafted cornerback who made the team last year, said he immediately felt a kinship among undrafteds like Mr. O'Hara, who told him, "We're the real men here because we worked our way up from the bottom."

 

At rookie minicamp last week, when Giants coach Tom Coughlin was asked which incoming players had made a strong impression, the first name he mentioned wasn't one of the team's fancy new draft picks, but Rutgers wideout Tim Brown, an undrafted free agent.

 

What makes all this even more striking is that the Giants are actually one of the toughest teams in the NFL for an undrafted player to make. A recent study by Pro Football Weekly showed that from 2004 to 2008, the Giants had the highest percentage of its draft picks (67%) still on the roster.

 

Marc Ross, the Giants' director of college scouting, said he thinks the team's ability to find productive players flows from the collective clarity of what the organization wants. Four of the team's scouts have logged more than 20 years—and three of them have spent that time entirely with the Giants. Four others have spent at least a decade with the team.

 

Ten years and a Pro Bowl in, Mr. O'Hara said he still appreciates the way he came into the league. "When you come here as an undrafted player, I don't think you ever lose that mentality," Mr. O'Hara said.

 

"Every year I come in and I feel like I'm going to get cut and I have to make the team. That fear is what motivates me to train, what motivates me to work hard. I don't think I've ever actually said to myself, you have your spot on the team."

 

Team ............... UFAs * ...........Games .........Starts

1 Giants .............. 6 ..................14.33 .............9.67

2 San Diego ......13 .................10.77 .............6.23

3 Indianapolis ...14 .................11.36 .............5.07

4 New England .13 .................11.46 .............4.85

5 Philadelphia ...14 .................13.07 .............4.71

6 Dallas ...............7 ....................9.14 ..............4.57

7 Jets ..................12 .................11.83 .............4.25

8 Arizona ..............9 ..................10.44 .............4.22

9 Chicago ............6 ..................11.17 .............4.17

10 St. Louis ........11 .................10.27 .............4.09

 

28 San Francisco 8................... 9.63 ..............2.00

29 Detroit .............14 ..................9.21 ..............1.50

30 Jacksonville ...12 ............... 10.42 ............. 1.17

31 Baltimore .........6 .................10.17 ..............0.83

32 Tampa Bay ....13 ...................7.00 ..............0.69

 

*Undrafted Free Agents currently on roster who played in 2009.

 

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[Treehugger]

That's a wacky stat. We're the 'best' at it because the guys we WANTED to be playing were hurt.

[RandolphScott]

That's a wacky stat. We're the 'best' at it because the guys we WANTED to be playing were hurt.

 

 

Well I mean O'Hara and Seubert are starters and so was Antonio Pierce before he got hurt as well. Blackburn has been very serviceable as a jack of all trades linebacker.

[Treehugger]

Well I mean O'Hara and Seubert are starters and so was Antonio Pierce before he got hurt as well. Blackburn has been very serviceable as a jack of all trades linebacker.

Were both O'Hara and Seubert UDFAs? Pierce was signed by Washington so that really doesn't count.

[RandolphScott]

Were both O'Hara and Seubert UDFAs? Pierce was signed by Washington so that really doesn't count.

 

Yes, both were UDFA's. O'Hara was signed by Cleveland. The Giants have had a history of getting players who were UDFA's and having decent careers.

 

James Butler was a starter in 07 and 08. Blackburn has been decent, Kevin Dockery was solid until last year. Ryan Grant was a UDFA we signed as well.