Call goes out for underdogs
Program is designed to help unemployed players keep their careers alive
PHOENIX— Kasim Edebali thought he had landed a job with the Chicago Bears until the team acquired Khalil Mack, the all-pro linebacker, just before the season began. In an instant, Edebali was part of the NFL unemployment line, joining more than 1,000 free agents who had been released or had their contracts expire.
“People say I finally made it to the NFL, but that’s when the hard work starts,” said Edebali, who in September returned to his home in Arizona, where he has been waiting for another team to call.
Edebali, who has played for four teams since he was picked up by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2014, now lives in a sports purgatory where he must stay in top shape to be ready for the next potential offer although he has been given few resources to do so.
For the past five years, however, The Trust, a group funded by the NFL and run by the NFL Players Association to help retired players, has tried to help free agents such as Edebali. The group gives players with at least two years in the NFL free membership to gyms for elite athletes run by EXOS, which has facilities in Arizona, California, Texas and other states. Previously, players received little more than a plane ticket to the next tryout. The memberships, which include access to trainers, physical therapists and nutritionists, are worth thousands of dollars a month.
“People think we’re just at home on the sofa,” Jude AdjeiBarimah, a cornerback who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 and 2016, said recently. “We’re unemployed, but we’re working hard.” The EXOS gyms have become a surrogate locker room and practice field, where free agents can commiserate about their fate and enjoy the camaraderie that goes missing when players are cut off from their teammates. And they can push one another during workouts.
Getting out of limbo is a long shot. Only about 10 per cent of players released during the season are re-signed, according to The Trust. After players are out of the league for a full year, their odds of being re-signed drop to less than 1 per cent.
Teams often sign players from their practice squads to replace injured or underperforming players. When they sign free agents, they must weigh their potential salary against their experience. Young players are generally cheaper than veterans such as Edebali, who is 29 and has four seasons under his belt.
Still, Edebali is determined to stay in game shape. Every weekday at 10 a.m., Jonathan Barlow, a strength and conditioning coach, leads a small group of NFL free agents through a two-hour training session. Last week, Edebali and Adjei-Barimah were joined by Will Sutton, a defensive tackle who played three years with the Bears and spent training camps with the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers, and Brice Butler, a wide receiver who has spent six years with the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas cut Butler last month after acquiring Amari Cooper, another wide receiver.
Barlow, who has trained about 250 NFL free agents since 2012, doubles as an informal counsellor. If he sees a player’s energy level dip, or his attitude darken, he will gently ask him how he is doing. Sometimes, a player will talk about the stress of not finding a new team. Other times, he might disclose that he is starting to think about life after football.
“They have struggles and doubts just like everyone,” Barlow said. “If they’re on the fence about shutting it down, I tell them to keep going because it’s not like you’re going to pick it up in five years.”
The players’ job search runs in weekly cycles. The free agents have a morbid but necessary curiosity about which players are injured each week because teams have to find replacements. Jonathan Cooper, a guard who has played for five teams since being drafted in 2013, was working out with the group in Phoenix until Washington lost several offensive linemen to injury. Washington signed Cooper, who had vanished earlier in the week.
“I was sad to see him go, but glad to see him go,” Barlow said.
Butler was certain he would be re-signed because, he said, teams need a speedy receiver who can run deep routes. Indeed, he had the most yards per reception last season among receivers with 10 or more catches.
“Right now, you expect to get picked up by another team, so I work out every day,” said Butler, who has had tryouts this fall with the Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets and Houston Texans. “I just haven’t gotten pen on paper yet, that’s all.”
Butler’s optimism was rewarded: This week, the Miami Dolphins signed him to shore up their injury-depleted receiving corps.
Butler is one of the lucky ones. The reality is that the season has passed the midway point. The number of teams chasing a playoff spot has narrowed, so fewer teams are willing to spend extra money to sign a veteran.
“When you’re auditioning for the NFL, you’re auditioning for all 32 teams,” said Bob Boland, a former NFL agent. “When you’re a free agent, you’re really auditioning for the four or five teams that fit your specialty.”
Most of the players dismissed the idea of playing in the CFL because the rules are different and teams often offer multiyear deals. Accepting one would reduce their odds of finding work in the NFL. Adjei-Barimah, 26, hopes to land a futures contract in the NFL once the season ends to secure a spot on a team’s 90-man roster and an invitation to off-season workouts.
“I’m a big fan of, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to get what you’ve gotta get,” AdjeiBarimah said. There was little talk of life beyond football among the four players. The potential payoff is too great to give up on just yet.
Trying to buck the odds is nothing new for Edebali, who said he was determined to play in the NFL next season. He won a scholarship to a U.S. high school, then another to Boston College, and was signed as an undrafted free agent.
“The majority of the players in the NFL are underdogs, and it’s the same now,” said Edebali, who flew to Nashville last week for what turned out to be an unsuccessful tryout with the Titans. “That’s how my whole life has been.”