5 UNDRAFTED STARTERS A FORCE FOR BRONCOS »
Broncos have five starters who are fueled by extra motivation
Shaquil Barrett leaned forward in his locker and stared ahead, his broad shoulders parallel to his feet. He paused. The question stirred a memory and the memory brought pain.
The Broncos outside linebacker leaned back, angled his head to the side and let out a sigh. The image playing in his mind in that moment took Barrett back to May 10, 2014, the final day of that year’s NFL draft. There were 255 names that had been announced. Then came No. 256: Mr. Irrelevant, Lonnie Ballentine, a safety out of Memphis.
The draft was over. Barrett’s desire to play pro ball had begun with a blow to the gut.
“You really don’t get over it,” Barrett said, his voice catching ever so slightly. “Thinking about it brings everything back up again and makes you upset about it all over again.”
Barrett refused to let disappointment that day end his dream. The former Colorado State star is in his third season as a full-time member of the Broncos and has catapulted himself into a starting role on Denver’s vaunted defense. He has eight sacks, 55 tackles and five forced fumbles in 35 career games, and the 24-year-old has set himself up to earn financial security for his growing family when he becomes a restricted free agent after this season.
But the emotion that bubbled in Barrett at mention of the word “undrafted” speaks to the weight that designation carries for NFL players and the motivation it provides. Barrett is one of five Denver starters who began their careers as undrafted free agents, a total that is among the highest in the league. Cornerback Chris Harris, running back C.J. Anderson, wide receiver Bennie Fowler and inside linebacker Todd Davis have traveled the same path. And other players such as Zaire Anderson and Kasim Edebali are key reserves.
And whether they are winning Super Bowls, earning allpro honors or signing big contracts, the common thread among these players is that they never forget the “un” label. It’s what guides every step they take in the NFL.
“A lot of guys get drafted and then you don’t? It’s a slap in the face,” said Broncos coach Vance Joseph, who began his own brief NFL career as an undrafted free agent in 1995. “Most guys do carry that through their career.”
Reasons for “un” vary
Harris had to wait three months for a phone call. For some players who don’t get drafted, they are pursued the minute the draft ends.
Harris wasn’t so lucky. He came out of Kansas in 2011. That was the year of the last NFL lockout. Once the draft was over, the league went dark. Teams were forbidden from contacting free agents or conducting any other league business.
So Harris, who didn’t earn an invitation to the NFL scouting combine, had three months to ponder why he wasn’t drafted and wondering whether he’d ever get the chance to prove himself.
“It was difficult. I had (41) starts in the Big 12, so I was confused,” Harris said. “I didn’t understand seeing dudes from Idaho and smaller D-II colleges getting drafted over me. Plus, I had to wait forever with that lockout. That made it even harder. I didn’t know anything until the end of July.”
Harris voluntarily moved to safety midway through his senior season at Kansas to help the team’s pass defense. As a result, some NFL teams had Harris labeled as a safety prospect, even though he was always destined to be a cornerback at the next level.
“I played every position in college, so I guess they didn’t know where to fit me in,” Harris said. “I definitely should have had a chance at the combine, at least, to be able to show what I could do.”
For Barrett, teams formed impressions based on his body type. They looked at a 250-pound frame with 24 percent body fat and figured he didn’t have the makeup to be an impact edge pass rusher, despite his 12 sacks as a college senior.
“Shaquil came from Colorado State with a real natural rush ability, a real natural feel for the game,” said Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio, who was the Broncos’ defensive coordinator when the team signed Barrett after the 2014 draft. “He just needed to really work his body. He’s done that. (Broncos strength and conditioning coach) Luke Richesson has done a great job helping him develop. But he’s paid the price himself.”
The stories are similar for many undrafted players, whose impressive numbers in college didn’t outweigh some perceived weakness teams placed upon them. Other times, being undrafted simply comes down to numbers.
“That really speaks to (general manger) John (Elway) and his staff and (director of player personnel) Matt (Russell) and those guys. They do a great job,” Joseph said. “A couple of those guys we had draftable grades on. You can’t draft everyone. So when you see a free agent out there playing, it doesn’t mean he didn’t have a draftable grade. … Just because they’re a free agent doesn’t mean they can’t play.”
Removing the stigma
Harris used to do the math. As players lined up for individual drills in practice, he’d slot himself in line to match up against the Broncos’ top receivers in training camp.
When Demaryius Thomas or Brandon Lloyd came up to run a route during training camp in 2011, it was the fearless undrafted cornerback out of Kansas, in camp on a $2,000 signing bonus, stepping up to combat them.
As Harris saw it, there was no time to waste. He wasn’t going to be granted an extended chance to make an impression.
“They are always waiting to see when you’re going to look like an undrafted player,” Harris said. “I think that’s what always kept that chip on my shoulder, to always show that I should have been a first-round player, top-10 player. That’s my motivation.”
Harris insists, even after signing a fiveyear, $42 million contract extension three years after entering the league and becoming an all-pro player, the undrafted stigma still persists. Evidence is found in his No. 63 ranking in the NFL Network’s preseason top 100, a list voted on by players.
“It’s a popularity contest,” Davis said. “He’s one of the top corners in the league. He should definitely not be No. 63. Sometimes it does stick with you. That’s one of the key examples of how it can.”
Barrett occasionally checks in on the linebackers who were drafted in his class. Some are already out of the league. Some high draft picks have yet to produce big numbers.
Anderson, meanwhile, is fond of saying he isn’t supposed to still be in the league. It’s one thing to make a team out of training camp as an undrafted free agent, as 20 Broncos players have done since 1997. It’s another to become a focal point of an offense and a team leader. Only three running backs drafted in 2013 — Le’veon Bell, Eddie Lacy and Latavius Murray — have more career rushing touchdowns than Anderson’s 18.
“Me being an undrafted guy, I take advantage of all of my opportunities,” said Anderson, who signed with the Broncos as a free agent out of California. “I wasn’t supposed to be in the league five years and I’m trying to make it another five.”
Paying it forward
Harris thinks he may have bought a Playstation 4 video-game console with some of his $2,000 bonus six years ago. Some of it may have gone to clothes. He can’t remember for sure.
“I know it went fast,” he said with a laugh. Harris has kept the Chevy Avalanche SUV he was driving as a college free agent in 2011. It’s a four-wheel reminder of the road he’s traveled.
It’s Harris himself who has served as a reminder to Denver players attempting to follow his path. He’s a reminder that the only limits that can be applied to an undrafted player are the ones he puts on himself.
“We all want to be in this league for a long time,” Harris said. “I think them seeing me, I try to give them a little motivation with how I did it. When they go through their contracts, they kind of ask me advice. It’s a big bond.”
Broncos Ring of Fame member Rod Smith, the franchise’s all-time leading receiver, remains Denver’s shining example of the legacy an undrafted player can leave. Harris, Anderson, Barrett, Fowler and Davis have joined that fraternity as Super Bowl champions and impact starters overlooked in the draft.
“We’re the ones who, technically, aren’t supposed to be here,” Davis said. “We’re going to give it everything we have.”