Official Undrafted Free Agency Thread

[Fosco33]

Surprised Jaymes Brooks went undrafted. He was projected 3-5th round.

A three-year starter who finished his career with 42 consecutive starts at right guard for Virginia Tech, Brooks was an All-ACC selection for the second consecutive season in 2011. His solid play helped David Wilson rank fourth in the nation with 1,709 rushing yards and paved the way for the Hokies to average 187 yards per game on the ground. Brooks closed his college career with strong performances in two big games. He had five knockdown blocks in 44 snaps against Clemson in the ACC championship game and helped Virginia Tech rush for 163 yards in a 23-20 overtime loss to Michigan in the 2012 Sugar Bowl. Brooks possesses all the tools necessary to develop into a very good NFL player, displaying a nice combination of size, strength and explosiveness that should allow him to play in a variety of offenses. While shorter than the average NFL guard, he has better than average bulk with a muscular frame. A decent athlete with good technique, Brooks will need to improve his footwork to reach his full potential at the next level. Because he's proven extremely durable and has a reputation as a very hard worker with a dedication to the weight room, Brooks could be selected as high as the third round, but the fourth or fifth seems a more likely destination.

[Scott Campbell]

By my count, at least 4 UDFA's spent some time on the active roster last year. Ray Dominguez, Brandon Saine, Vic So'to and J. Lattimore! I wonder how that compares to other teams?

I think So-to and MD Jennings were the guys that made the roster coming out of camp.

[Scott Campbell]

And don't forget about the 'tool belt'.

WR is a tough gig for this squad. Jennings and Nelson are obvious locks. Cobb had a good rookie season, and is going nowhere. That means for there to be a spot available, the team has to cut ties with Driver, or decide they want a developmental guy instead of Jones. And for one of these rookies to make it as a developmental guy, they have to beat out Gurley and Smithson.

I think Borel also got an offer from a team that wanted him on their active roster towards the end of last year. But I don't think we had to give him as much money as Gurley.

[Lurker64]

I didn't know much about Smithson, other than he looked slow. I thought maybe it was just a matter of him catching up with the game? He hung around the PS all year, so I figured he had some promise, but it sounds pretty unanimous that he doesn't!

No, Smithson actually is slow. He ran a 4.65 40, and 7.20 cone, which is glacial for a shorter (5-11) WR. (Compare undrafted 6-3 Dale Moss who ran a 4.51 40 with a 6.35 cone) In terms of athleticism, you might actually be better off putting Nick Perry back there to return punts, assuming he can catch them. They have similar numbers.

The thing about Smithson though is that he's reliable at catching underhand, and in college he did things like this:

(To see the difference in speed, compare Randall Cobb's 79 yard punt return TD against the Vikings last year)

But Smithson has virtually no upside as a WR (he didn't even catch passes in college), and his punt return game doesn't look to have been able to transition to the NFL game, where everybody covering kicks is a good athlete.