Technically, NFL teams aren’t supposed to agree to terms with undrafted free agents until they actually go undrafted. As a practical matter, deals are done even before the draft has ended.
One league source with extensive knowledge of and experience with the post-draft free-agency land rush estimates that up to 80 percent of all undrafted free-agency deals were done even before the draft ended.
NFL rules prohibit the premature negotiations of such contracts, but the rule is rarely if ever enforced -- like multiple other NFL rules.
With offseason rosters at up to 90 and the draft at only seven rounds, plenty of players will get plenty of jobs in plenty of cities, with the maximum potential roster spots of 2,880 reducing to 1,696 on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
