Local player undrafted but agrees to Jets’ deal

If there was any disappointment in not being taken in the NFL Draft, it didn’t linger longer for Windsor’s Dakoda Shepley.

The Holy Names high school player had hoped to hear his name called during Saturday ’s final four rounds of the NFL Draft.

“It was a lot of sitting around,” Shepley said of how he spent Saturday. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t leave the house.”

But when the seven-round draft of 256 players ended without his name being called, the 23-year-old Shepley quickly agreed to a freeagent deal with the New York Jets. “I wasn’t disappointed,” the sixfoot-four, 312-pound Shepley said. “I was pretty realistic about it.” Before the draft was finished, Shepley was already getting phone calls from league general managers, position coaches and offensive linemen from various teams hoping to get him to agree to a freeagent deal.

“I knew where I wanted to go,” Shepley said. “I was waiting for all the teams that talked to me to make their final picks.” Since finishing up at the University of British Columbia in December, Shepley has been working out in Plymouth, Mich. at Barwis Performance Center with several NFL linemen.

“I’ve got a friend I’ve been training, Travis Swanson,” Shepley said. “Having a friend I know well enough to be buddies with will help.” Swanson, who can play centre or guard, spent four years with the Detroit Lions before signing a free-agent deal with the Jets in the off-season.

“With their depth on the (Jets’ offensive) line, I felt it was a good fit,” said Shepley, who heads to New York on Thursday to sign his deal before a three-day mini-camp begins on Friday. Shepley spent time at tackle, guard and centre at UBC and won a Vanier Cup with the team in 2015 while being named a Canada West conference all-star last year at right tackle.

“They (the Jets) haven’t talked to me, but I’ve been told I’m an interior lineman in the NFL,” Shepley said. “Start out at guard and, as I learn the offence, be able to move to centre.”

Shepley was poised to be a firstround pick in May’s Canadian Football League Draft, but his decision to sign with the Jets will no doubt impact that. NFL training camps don’t begin until July while the CFL season opens in June. “I’m not going to go as high as I was supposed to if I hadn’t got an offer,” Shepley said. “I still think my rights will get claimed (in the draft), but just not as high.”