St. Louis (only) Rams: best 10 UDFAs since 95

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  • May 19, 2015 at 10:54 am #24854
    Avatar photozn
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    Rams: 10 Greatest Undrafted Free Agents in Team History

    by Patrick Karraker

    http://archauthority.com/2015/05/19/st-louis-rams-10-greatest-undrafted-free-agents-in-team-history/

    While converting on early draft picks is a major key to success in the NFL, it’s equally important to be able to stock the bottom of the roster with able undrafted free agents who can fill needs. Sometimes, teams get lucky and these undrafted players actually end up being successful long-term contributors.

    Perhaps there should be a growing sense of optimism surrounding the Rams, because after a period in the mid-to-late 2000s in which instances of undrafted free agents making the Rams’ 53-man roster were few and far between, these occurrences have become much more common as the Jeff Fisher/Les Snead administration has gotten settled in. Four undrafted rookies—tight end Alex Bayer, running back Trey Watts, defensive end Ethan Westbrooks, and cornerback Marcus Roberson—made the Rams’ opening roster this past season, though it was at the expense of the last five draft picks failing to make the team. It’s the most the Rams have utilized undrafted rookies since the late 1990s, when the Rams successfully found several diamonds in the rough on the way to a Super Bowl victory and a string of playoff appearances.

    With the Rams’ history of having success with undrafted free agents, we thought it might be fun to rank the 10 best since the Rams have been in St. Louis. Here are the rules in picking players for this exercise: the player must have been originally signed by the Rams or brought in following an unsuccessful offseason attempt with another team. Thus, undrafted guys who had nice careers with the Rams after being poached from other teams’ practice squads, such as Mike Gruttadauria, Daniel Fells, and Danny Amendola, are ineligible.

    Here are the 10 best undrafted free agents to play for the Rams since the team arrived in St. Louis.

    10. Danario Alexander
    9. Darian Stewart
    8.Dane Looker
    7. James Hodgins
    6. Rodney McLeod
    5. Billy Jenkins Jr.
    4. Tony Horne
    3. Johnny Hekker
    2. London Fletcher
    1. Kurt Warner

    May 19, 2015 at 11:00 am #24855
    Avatar photozn
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    You know, technically, Warner was not a Rams UDFA. He was a UDFA with Green Bay in 1994. Technically, maybe he could be considered a free agent, though a low-market FA. I don’t know what the rules were regarding all that in the 90s. The name I use for that category of player acquisition is “ronin.” Guys who are cut, in between teams, etc. but not veteran FAs. Like Barksdale, or Shelley Smith.

    If you count “ronin” and UDFAs together, the 99 Rams must have had one of the biggest collections of that type for any team that ever went to a superbowl.

    It includes

    Jenkins
    Fletcher
    Farr
    Gruttadauria
    Nutten
    Warner
    Horne

    .

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