Udfa ....

If we ever needed to find some sleepers or diamonds in the ruff. It is this year. Every team are scouting the big names ... but, are we doing our due diligence with the potential undrafted? This is where we used to thrive.

 

no. They aren’t. It’s colbert’s last year so he’s just phoning it in. Going through the motions so to speak

 

Thrived? No doubt Donnie Shell and James Harrison come to mind, but looking at a history lists other teams have has as many or even more impact players. I do not see this year as any different. The scouts do the grunt work, the team contacts those who they are interested in and try to sign them after the draft. Sometimes you get lucky. Seems like the Cowboys actually found more gems over the years than most teams and several very good players actually became stars with teams other than those that originally signed them. In fact Harrison was cut several times and even signed by the Ravens before finally making it with the Steelers.

 

I would think that if you have too many UDFA’s making the team or starting you probably haven’t been drafting very well or having very good seasons.
I could be wrong, but when we had our Super Bowl runs I don’t recall having a bunch of those type of guys contributing in a major way. On the other hand the years that we did have a large number of UDFA’s contributing I don’t remember many deep runs in the playoffs.

 

I would say these are some of the best UDFA the Steelers have signed. Donnie Shell. Randy Grossman James Harrison. Willie Parker, Ramon Foster, and Keith Willis.

 

I think Quentin Lake will be a UDFA; some say he may go in the 7th round.

He bombed at the combine and then again at his pro day, see my thread over in the draft section.

Quentin is Carnell Lake's son, so I think his football knowledge is going to be better than most and may turn out to be a hidden gem. After the number's he put up, I wouldn't draft him; but hey the Steelers do have two 7th round picks this year.

 

his 40 was the same as Kyle Hamilton 4.59

 

Yep, they both tied for dead last; making them the slowest safeties at the combine.


https://cetabtitan.com/safety-quentin-lake-wraps-up-ucla-footballs-week-at-nfl-combine/
That put Lake tied for dead last among the 15 safeties who participated in the event.

 

understood, but by tying w Hamilton he is still in the mix and not a total "bomb" of a draft day

 

James Harrison, and W. Parker say hello. Both big contributors in SBs.

 

I got excited by some of the UDFAs they signed last year, and none of them were able to stick.

 

udfa's make up about 30% of NFL rosters.

 

Really that's not saying much since they let the steal of the draft go 2 another team....our 6 round pick Quincy Roche....IMO. Really could have used Him....No???

 

Depends on what he does in his career, but when they cut him had to admit I was ticked off lol.

 

Definitely would like to see some on the roster make it. That said and, more often than not, some simply do not stick. Still would like Donovan Stiner to stick as he could prove useful on Special Teams should he continue to develop there.

 

I said a bunch

 

I’m surprised it’s not more

The average career is 3.3 years

With a 53 man roster that means on average you need 16 new players each year

7 average draft choices a year leaves a lot of fill in the blanks

 

there are some futures picks as well. guys that have been on practice squads or made other teams and played a little and got cut at some point too. UDFA's are usually guys not drafted that year and picked up after the draft. harrison, hilton, AV, feiler, willie p., redman, ray ray mcloed, guys like that.

 

My bad, but they were huge in the SBs