Colorado safety Shilo Sanders went undrafted. He quickly landed with the Buccaneers. And Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles sounds happy about that.
“I think he’s a good football player,” Bowles said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, via JoeBucsFan.com. “He’s a heck of a tackler and he knows the game very well; he can see the game very well. So giving him a chance to play, we think he has a shot to help us from a safety standpoint and from a special teams standpoint. So I’m excited to get him in here and see how he moves. I saw him tackle all year. I saw him make plays. He’s a very smart player and he understands the game very well. So we thought it was worth a shot to see what he can do. And I think he’ll show himself well.”
Plenty of undrafted players make opening-day NFL rosters. Some become starters. A few, like former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, former Texans running back Arian Foster, and former Broncos receiver Rod Smith, become stars. Some, like former Rams, Giants, and Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and former Vikings and Seahawks defensive tackle John Randle, become Hall of Famers.
Randle went unselected in one of the final years of 12 rounds in the draft. With 28 teams and no compensatory picks, Randle wasn’t one of 336 players picked.
So every undrafted free agent has a chance to become NFL players even if they bypass the draft. Or, more accurately, if the draft bypasses them.
Georgia State offensive lineman Ben Chukwuma, a native of Nigeria who moved to the U.S. at 17, did not begin playing football until 2020 when he showed up for an open tryout. Chukwuma knew nothing about American football.
Five years later, Chukwuma has the most guaranteed money of any undrafted free agent as the Bucs offered him $300,000 after the draft.
“My potentiality is what makes the NFL teams excited,” Chukwuma told Greg Auman of Fox Sports on Sunday. “They see with my little experience what am I able to do.”
He did not see any game action until 2023 before starting 11 games in 2024. He has played only 23 games in his career.
The 6-foot-6, 310-pounder is a project with potentially a big upside.
“He’s just a big piece of clay that you can make however you want,” former NFL coach Hue Jackson, now Georgia State’s offensive coordinator, told Auman. “Somebody can really pour the right things into him. His growth over the next several months [should be a lot]. He’ll be around NFL guys, and they’ll take him under their wings and let him be what he can be. He’s athletic. He’s long. He’s tough, and he loves football, and he’s going to work hard at it.”
At six-foot-six and 464 pounds, defensive tackle Desmond Watson would have been the largest draft pick in NFL history. He was not drafted.
Via the Associated Press, Watson has instead signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent.
It’ll be a homecoming for Watson, who grew up 20 minutes from Tampa, in Plant City, Florida.
He played college football for four seasons at the University of Florida, without missing a single game.
Watson knows he needs to lose weight. Since arriving at Gainesville, he has been consistently growing. He started out at 385. He was 415 in his second year. As a junior, he weighed 435. Last year, he was listed at 449. At his Pro Day, he was 15 pounds heavier.
He also bench-pressed 225 pounds 36 times that day, more than anyone who was invited to the Scouting Combine.
The Bucs already have a 347-pound defensive tackle in Vita Vea.
Watson has played a little fullback, too. He had one rushing attempt, for a one-yard gain.
Forty years after 350-pound William “The Refrigerator” Perry took the league by storm as a periodic offensive option for the 1985 Bears, Watson could perhaps get a chance to do the same thing. (Desmond “The Walk-In Cooler” Watson has a nice ring to it.)
First, Watson will have to make the team. He’ll get a chance to do that in Tampa.
Like his brother Shedeur, former Colorado safety Shilo Sanders maneuvered the pre-draft process without an agent. When Shiloh wasn’t drafted, he went with a new approach.
Shilo hired Rosenhaus Sports, and Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey got him a contract as an undrafted free agent with the Buccaneers.
In hindsight, both could have benefited from hiring an agent. For Shedeur, it would have meant having someone to push back against the drip, drip, drip of negativity that started at the Scouting Combine and continued through the draft.
It could be wise for Shedeur to do the same, whether it’s Rosenhaus or someone else. While Shedeur’s slotted fifth-round deal will essentially negotiate itself, he needs someone whose job is to advocate for his interests. In the NFL, it’s helpful to have someone who can quickly initiate certain conversations and handle them effectively.
During Shedeur’s slide, an agent could have been burning up the phone lines to say whatever needed to be said to get him drafted earlier, with a contract that would have paid much more. Along with a draft-pick investment that would have secured his spot on the 53-man roster.
Not that Shedeur would be cut. He’ll likely make the final roster, along with third-rounder Dillon Gabriel. Still, Gabriel has a built-in advantage, because he went off the board two rounds earlier. Shedeur will have to overcome that when it’s time to get to work.
For now, both Shedeur and Shiloh have their chances to do just that. Where it goes from here is up to them. There nevertheless will be occasions where it’s useful to have a third-party involved. Shiloh has that. Shedeur doesn’t, at least not yet.
When the Buccaneers used the 19th pick on Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, it prompted a question to General Manager Jason Licht about Chris Godwin’s rehab.
Godwin dislocated his ankle in a Week 7 game against the Ravens, costing him the rest of the season. Still, the Bucs re-signed Godwin to a three-year, $66 million deal in March.
Licht said Godwin’s rehab has nothing to do with the selection of Egbuka as the Buccaneers still expect Godwin to be ready Week 1.
“Chris is still on track; we’re still shooting for Week One with him,” Licht said, via Scott Smith of the team website. “This had nothing really to do with Chris’s injury rehab right now. This had everything to do with [the fact that] he was a player that Todd [Bowles] and I said, at the end of the day, if this guy was here, we were going to take him and we’re going to be happy with it.”
The selection of Egbuka had everything to do with the 2024 injuries to Godwin and Mike Evans, who missed three games with a hamstring injury.
So, the Bucs now have Evans, Godwin, Jalen McMillan and Egbuka, with McMillan and Egbuka the future No. 1 and No. 2 receivers for the team.
“We felt this was a pick for the future but also for the present,” Licht said. “You saw what happened last year. We had some injuries and the coaches did a great job with what we had, but [now we’re] adding another great receiver. Todd has said all along, I think he told you guys back in March that a good offense can help a defense. It’s about scoring points.
“It’s exciting to add him to the mix. We’ve got J-Mac and him now for the future, but also the present, and still we have an elite room with Chris and Mike.”
