Prospects such as Burney and Herzlich must make decision

Topdawg13 · May 2, 2011

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Undrafted free agents that, in a normal year, would be the subject of the frenzied courtships that land around 400 guys their NFL shot.

And that's where the fledgling UFL comes in, with a golden opportunity to be pounced upon.

The aforementioned players, like North Carolina cornerback Kendric Burney and Boston College LB Mark Herzlich who went undrafted, will be unable to sign with NFL teams and, as such, will be staring at weeks or even months of a lack of football employment ahead. Unless, of course, they take a non-NFL job, which is something the UFL can offer.

So the UFL's draft, and season, has been moved up, in part to help accommodate opportunities for a potential influx of pro football neophytes.

"If you really look at the population of NFL players, the majority are first- and second-round picks, but once you get past that, the second-biggest group is the undrafted group," said Omaha Nighthawks GM and former Dolphins and Saints GM Randy Mueller. "Part of that's the numbers that sign after the draft, but it's also because it's a pretty good pool of talented players. The evaluation process is difficult for us, because we don't have the full staff (that NFL teams) do, but there's opportunity here.

"There's opportunity for players that can't get on teams to sign free-agent contracts to come to the league, and a chance for us to get younger as a league."

The logistics here are key. And much of the UFL's plan is dependent on the NFL getting the full stay it is now seeking from U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. A temporary stay of the lockout-lifting injunction is in effect, until the full stay, which would preserve the NFL's right to lock the players out and likely drag the work stoppage into summer, is ruled on. That ruling is expected this week. The UFL draft will be held on Monday, with every player undrafted by the NFL eligible to be picked. There then will be tryouts and minicamps, with training camp starting in mid-July, and the season kicking off in August and wrapping up by Halloween -- when eight NFL weeks are in the books.

One catch: Players signing UFL contracts will be bound to their teams until the end of the season, meaning no job-jumping to the NFL if the lockout ends sooner than a prospect might think. So players will have to weigh that in making their decisions, and what way a guy is leaning -- Mueller says the Nighthawks will be making calls Sunday to gage interest - will likely play into where he's drafted.

On the flip side, a player will have found a football home, and a place where he'd be more likely to get game experience. And by late October, if he'd proven himself a commodity, he'd still have more than half his rookie season left to chase his NFL dream.
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padre31 · May 2, 2011

CFL is going to get in on some of that action as well, players like Devine and Rogers are tailor made for the wider fields up north.

MrClean · May 2, 2011

Any idea the kind of contract dollars the UFL is going to offer?

padre31 · May 2, 2011

MrClean said:

Any idea the kind of contract dollars the UFL is going to offer?
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Base is 50k, in the CFL it is 40k for Rooks, but stability is far better.

BuckeyeKing · May 2, 2011

IF anything this lockout is helping out the CFL, and the UFL. Might do Herzlich some good to play in the UFL for 1 year help him ease into the game.

Starry31 · May 3, 2011

Herzlich gets drafted by the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks.

Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich went undrafted in last week's NFL draft but the cancer survivor was selected Monday night in the United Football League draft.

Herzlich was drafted in the 10th round by the Omaha Nighthawks. Texas A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson was the No. 1 overall pick, going to Jerry Glanville's Hartford Colonials.
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