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The news started coming out not long after the NFL Draft. Undrafted players were making their decisions and coming to terms with NFL franchises. We had a list of about a dozen players as of Saturday night.
The Arizona Cardinals made their official announcement on Monday, stating that 15 undrafted rookies had agreed to terms.
Here is the official list:
- Northern Arizona RB ZACH BAUMAN
- Illinois LB JONATHAN BROWN
- Penn State LB GLENN CARSON
- Clemson K CHANDLER CATANZARO
- UNLV RB TIM CORNETT
- Purdue DT BRUCE GASTON
- Baylor T KELVIN PALMER
- Samford WR KELSEY POPE
- Miami DT JUSTIN RENFROW
- UCLA CB BRANDON SERMONS
- Washington WR KEVIN SMITH
- Alabama G/C ANTHONY STEEN
- Newberry WR COREY WASHINGTON
- SE Louisiana CB TODD WASHINGTON
- Albany T KADEEM WILLIAMS
Twitter was pretty accurate. The only names that were not on the previous post were Kevin Palmer and Jonathan Brown.
With the recent release of running back Ryan Williams, unless another more established player is picked up down the line, one of the backs has a very good chance at making the final roster.
In the end, most of these guys will simply be camp bodies. Only of few of them will be lucky to land on some team's practice squad. Even fewer will make a final roster.
But with the reputed "deep draft", perhaps there is a greater shot this year, as many of these players would have been drafted in a typical year.
Who do you think has the best shot?
Here are the bios that the team provided. I haven't gotten up that info post on the players, but I will get to it, I promise.
Northern Arizona running back ZACH BAUMAN (BO-min) (5-10, 200) is a Chandler, AZ native who left NAU as one of the best players in school history, setting Lumberjack all-time records for rushing yards, all-purpose yards and TDs. In his career, he totaled 5,132 rushing yards, 1,181 receiving yards and 51 touchdowns while posting 25 100-yard rushing games. Bauman ran for a career-high 1,456 yards as a senior in 2013, becoming the first NAU player and just the ninth in NCAA FCS history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons. Bauman graduated from Hamilton High School and helped his team win back-to-back state titles in his final two years.
Illinois linebacker JONATHAN BROWN (6-1, 230) played in 45 games (30 starts) over four seasons with the Fighting Illini and posted 317 tackles (153 solo), 14.0 sacks, 45.5 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions, while earning three All-Big Ten selections during his collegiate career. Brown was the leading tackler for his team in 2011 and 2013 after positing 108 and 119 tackles, respectively, and his 45.5 tackles for loss is good for third in school history. As a senior, he set career highs when he led the team in tackles (119), tackles for loss (15.0), sacks (5.0), and ranked second in the Big Ten with 9.9 tackles per game, earning him second-team All-Big Ten honors and the team’s Outstanding Defensive Player award.
Linebacker GLENN CARSON (6-3, 235) from Penn State played in 50 consecutive games over four seasons with the Nittany Lions. He started 36 straight games dating back to the beginning of his sophomore season in 2011, and he led the team with a career-high 90 tackles (43 solo) as a senior in 2013 while also having four tackles for loss, one sack and three passes defensed and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten. Carson totaled 261 tackles (116 solo), nine tackles for loss, two sacks, and two forced fumbles in his career. A two-time academic All-Big Ten selection, Carson began his career as a fullback before switching to linebacker as a freshman.
Clemson kicker CHANDLER CATANZARO (6-3, 200) began his career as a walk-on and went on to become the school’s all-time leading scorer. He made 67-of-82 FG attempts (81.7 percent) and 203-of-207 PATs in 53 games with the Tigers. His 404 career points rank second in ACC history, and he also set Clemson records for PATs (203), FGs of 40+ yards (24) and consecutive FGs (20, 2011-12). A three-time All-ACC selection, Catanzaro scored at least one point in all 53 games in his career. Over his last two seasons at Clemson, Catanzaro made 33-of-35 FGs and was part of the first back-to-back 11-win seasons in school history.
Running back TIM CORNETT (6-0, 210) from UNLV became the first player in school history to lead his team in rushing all four seasons including as a senior when he set career-highs 1,284 rushing yards on 264 attempts (4.9 yard avg.) and 15 touchdowns. Last season, Cornett helped the Rebels to its first bowl game appearance in 13 years and was named second-team All-Mountain West. For his career, he played in 50 games (38 starts) and rushed 769 times for 3,733 yards (4.8 yard avg.) with 35 touchdowns while catching 67 passes for 424 yards and two TDs and returning 23 kickoffs for 574 yards and one touchdown. His career 3,733 net rushing yards was the most in school history and also ranked second in Mountain West Conference history and his 769 career rushing attempts also set a school record.
Defensive tackle BRUCE GASTON (6-2, 310) from Purdue set career highs with 48 tackles (31 solo), seven tackles for loss, and three sacks while playing in all 12 games as a senior in 2013. The Chicago, IL native led the Boilermakers with his three sacks and seven tackles for loss last season. A three-year starter, Gaston played in 50 games while at Purdue with 44 starts and finished his collegiate career with 131 tackles (74 solo), 23.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles, and two passes defensed.
Baylor tackle KELVIN PALMER (6-4, 290) played in 45 career games (13 starts), helping the team to four straight bowl games for the first time in school history and earning the program’s first Big 12 Championship and BCS Bowl berth in 2013. Last season, he led the offensive line as the Bears had the top ranked offense in the nation in total yards (618.8 ypg) and scoring (52.4 ppg), and was one of five offensive players to start all 13 games. During his time at Baylor, he saw action on special teams and spent one season on the defensive line before starting as a senior.
Wide receiver KELSEY POPE (6-0, 202) from Samford played in 45 games and totaled a school record 250 receptions for 2,385 yards and 13 touchdowns while also rushing for 285 yards and seven touchdowns on 70 carries and returning 25 kickoffs for 419 yards. As a senior, Pope led the Bulldogs with 68 receptions for 789 receiving yards while scoring three touchdowns as part of Samford’s 2013 Southern Conference championship team. He earned first team all-conference honors from both the Southern Conference’s head coaches and media.
Miami defensive tackle JUSTIN RENFROW (6-6, 310) played his final collegiate season with the Hurricanes as a graduate student after playing his first three seasons at the University of Virginia. With Miami last season, Renfrow set career highs with 36 tackles, one forced fumble and two passes defensed while playing in 13 games (four starts). During his career at Virginia, the Morrisville, PA native played in 22 games and had 18 tackles. Overall for his career, Renfrow played in 35 games and had 54 tackles, one forced fumble and three passes defensed.
UCLA cornerback BRANDON SERMONS (5-11, 195) played in 42 games and totaled 46 tackles in his career with the Bruins. After playing mostly as a reserve and on special teams in his first three years, Sermons appeared in 12 games and made his first four career starts as a senior in 2013. He collected a career-high 38 tackles, including three for loss, and had two passes defensed in helping UCLA win 10 games for the first time since 2005. Sermons played as a true freshman in 2009 before using his redshirt year in 2010 after suffering a leg injury during the spring.
Washington wide receiver KEVIN SMITH (5-11, 214) finished second on the Huskies last season with a career-high 50 receptions for 765 yards (15.3 yard avg.) and four touchdowns while starting all 13 games. As a sophomore in 2011, Smith’s 25.9-yard kick return average (37 returns for 958 yards) was the seventh-best in school history. He finished his college career with 72 receptions for 1,059 yards and four touchdowns and also had 62 kick returns for 1,445 yards (23.3 yard avg.) in 47 games.
Guard/Center ANTHONY STEEN (6-3, 309) saw action in 51 games and made 36 starts at right guard in four seasons at Alabama. After redshirting during the 2009 national title season, he helped the Crimson Tide win back-to-back BCS National Championships in 2011 and 2012 and was a teammate of Cardinals 2014 fifth-round draft choice DE Ed Stinson. As a junior in 2012, Steen started all 14 games at guard and joins the other four starting offensive linemen from that year’s national championship in the NFL (D.J. Fluker, Barrett Jones, Cyrus Kouandjio and Chance Warmack). Last season, Steen started 11 of the first 12 games of the season before missing the Sugar Bowl with a shoulder injury.
Wide receiver COREY WASHINGTON (6-4, 200) totaled 95 receptions for 1,615 yards (17.0 yard avg.) and 22 touchdowns in just two seasons at Division II Newberry College. Last year, he was a D2Football.com honorable mention All-American after catching 44 passes for 839 yards and a single-season school-record 13 TDs. He also had three return TDs (two kickoff, one punt) and a pair of two-point conversions to become the second Newberry player in the last 100 years to score 100 points in a season. He began his collegiate career spending two years at Georgia Military College where he caught 51 passes for 781 yards and 12 TDs from 2010-11.
Cornerback TODD WASHINGTON (5-11, 190) from Southeastern Louisiana played in 27 games during his three seasons at the school after spending his freshman season at Memphis. From 2011-13, he totaled 57 tackles (49 solo), two tackles for loss and two interceptions for the Lions. Washington had his best season in 2012 when he recorded 27 tackles (23 solo) and earned honorable mention All-Southland Conference honors. While at Memphis in 2010, he recorded nine tackles and tied for the team lead with two interceptions while starting in five games.
Albany tackle KADEEM WILLIAMS (6-7, 310) appeared in 45 games as a three-year starter. A two-time first-team All-Northeast Conference selection (2011-12) as well as a 2012 College Sports Madness second-team All-America honoree, Williams started all 12 games at left tackle in 2013 and was named second-team All-Colonial Athletic Association in the Great Danes first year in the CAA. In addition to helping Albany win back-to-back NEC titles (2011-12), Williams helped the Great Danes to the league’s top-ranked scoring offense (34.1 ppg) in 2012 while starting all 11 games at tackle.
