Normally, once the NFL Draft ends teams begin to contact undrafted rookies and then sign them within a day or two or three. And that's what would have happened had Judge Susan Nelson's grant of injunction to lift the lockout been kept in place. However, Friday's temporary stay on the ruling put the lockout back in place ... for now. The 8th Circuit Court is expected to rule on the owners' appeal later in the week.
But now all those players who went undrafted are stuck in limbo. They can't sign with any teams until a new collective bargaining agreement, or at least the implementation of a league year, is in place. The longer the lockout continues, the less time these players have to tryout or make a league roster.
Local products who are affected by this include Colorado School of Mines DE Marc Schiechl (likely to be a linebacker in training camp), and four Colorado St. Rams players: Guy Miller, Ricky Brewer, Zac Pauga and Scott Albritton.
The Broncos struck gold in 1994 when they signed an undrafted free agent wide receiver out of Missouri Southern. That receiver is Rod Smith, who went on to have over 11,000 receiving yards for the Broncos. Though it is an uphill battle for undrafted free agents, they should all aspire to be as consummate a professional as Rod Smith was throughout his career.