Life in NFL purgatory
Free agents keep working, waiting for the call.
Kasim Edebali PHOENIX — 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 Orle- ans 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 like 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 Adjei-Barimah, a cornerback who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 and 2016, said recently during a break from his workout at an EXOS facility in Phoe- nix. “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.
Getting out of limbo is a long shot. Only about 10 percent of players released d ur i ng the s e ason a re 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 percent.
Teams often sign players from their practice squads to replace injured or under- performing players. When they sign free agents, they must weigh their potential salary against their experience. Young players are generally cheaper than veterans like 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., Jona- than 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 from Norcross who has spent six years with the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas cut But- ler last month after acquir- ing Amari Cooper, another wide receiver.
Barlow, who has trained about 250 NFL free agents since 2012, doubles as an informal counselor. 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, an offensive guard who has played for five teams since being drafted in 2013, was work- ing out with the group in Phoenix until the Washing- ton Redskins lost several line- men to injury. They signed Cooper, who had vanished earlier in the week.
“I was sad to see him go, but glad to see him go,” Bar- low said.
Butler was certain he would be re-signedbecause, 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: Last 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, and the chances of being signed this year are slipping. 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 audition- ing 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.”
Trying to buck the odds is nothing new for the German-born Edebali. 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 under- dogs, 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.”
‘People think we’re just at home on the sofa.’ Jude Adjei-Barimah Ex-Tampa Bay cornerback