The value of Undrafted FA's

[PATSNUTme]

Interesting article in today's Globe on the number of UDFA's that will be playing in the SB, on both teams.

Super Bowl rosters littered with undrafted players - The Boston Globe

This year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Giants will include more than two dozen players who weren’t drafted. With Wes Welker, Brian Waters, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead, Victor Cruz, and Mark Herzlich among them, it’s a group that will make an impact on the league’s signature game. One could end up being the difference.

I believe that the Patriots have about 15 on their roster and the Giants about 10. I've always considered the UDFA's as an important extention of the draft. The difference between the quality of player taken in the 4th through 7th rounds and the UDFA's is very minor, usually a ? about an injury or playing in a small school.

 

[jmt57]

I feel that with the draft being only seven rounds in comparison the the ten or twelve rounds that it used to be, that favors the organizations that are better at evaluating talent. Teams such as the Steelers, Patriots, and others that have a history of being successful more often than not during the salary cap - free agent era are able to use that to their advantage and sign players that may not have been available to them had the draft gone three or five more rounds.

For the Pats sake I hope that the competition committee and league offices don't figure this out in their never-ending quest to induce more parity to the game while making it more difficult for a team to excel for more than a very brief period of time.

 

[drew4008]

The difference between the quality of player taken in the 4th through 7th rounds and the UDFA's is very minor, usually a ? about an injury or playing in a small school.

Yup, hit the nail on the head here. The progression from the first 10 picks to each of the next few 'levels' (ie. the next 10, and then the final ~10 in the first round, then the 2nd and 3rd rounds) gets smaller and smaller, but there's still a distinguishable difference (in just the VALUE of the picks I mean, not the quality of players drafted as that's always going to be a crapshoot). And then at around that 4th round it pretty much dies away and comes down to it being solely dependent on each team's draft board.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Welker, Green-Ellis, Waters, Arrington, Moore, Ihedigbo, Woodhead, Connolly, Love.

9 players either starting or playing considerable time in the Superbowl for us.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I feel that with the draft being only seven rounds in comparison the the ten or twelve rounds that it used to be, that favors the organizations that are better at evaluating talent. Teams such as the Steelers, Patriots, and others that have a history of being successful more often than not during the salary cap - free agent era are able to use that to their advantage and sign players that may not have been available to them had the draft gone three or five more rounds.

For the Pats sake I hope that the competition committee and league offices don't figure this out in their never-ending quest to induce more parity to the game while making it more difficult for a team to excel for more than a very brief period of time.

I'd almost like to see the draft get extended to 12 rounds, just because it would be funny to watch some of these teams literally resort to throwing a dart and drafting whoever it hits.