{"id":33967,"date":"2016-05-03T08:01:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T15:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/after-the-draft-free-agents-look-for-spots-on-rosters\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T08:01:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T15:01:16","slug":"after-the-draft-free-agents-look-for-spots-on-rosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/after-the-draft-free-agents-look-for-spots-on-rosters\/","title":{"rendered":"After the draft, free agents look for spots on rosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

WILMINGTON, N.C.<\/strong> \u2014 Gary Shipman was at his desk at noon Saturday, thumbing through depth charts and occasionally looking across the room at the wall-mounted TV trumpeting the start of the NFL draft\u2019s final day.<\/p>\n

Shipman, who represents four college football players eligible to play in the NFL this season, didn\u2019t expect to hear any of their names called, even when teams are willing to take chances in the sixth or seventh round. Shipman and his staff were busily studying NFL rosters, trying to find the right fit for their players, keeping tabs on how franchises are using picks and trying to sell teams on his list of undrafted free agents well before the 253rd and final selection was made in Chicago.<\/p>\n

This is the draft TV viewers don\u2019t see, and it is still going on. Players with multiple offers can decide where to try out based on signing bonuses, systems that fit their skills, coaches they may know, geography and, most importantly, where they have the best chance to make the final roster of 53 players or a 10-man practice squad. Others are just happy to get an invite to a rookie minicamp, and hope it leads to a chance to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are teams out there that we\u2019re going to hear from today that we\u2019ve never spoken to,\u201d Shipman told The Associated Press as his staff gathered around a table near the TV early Saturday afternoon. \u201cWe\u2019re going to sort of make an on-the-spot judgment as to whether those places are a good fit as some of the teams we think are a good fit have moved on. It\u2019s a day where your mind definitely has to be alert as to what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Teams began calling around 9 a.m. Saturday, just letting Shipman know some of his clients were on their radar. But by 1 p.m., the phones were largely quiet in Shipman\u2019s law office \u2014 which blends into Wilmington, a city near the North Carolina coast. Shipman and five staffers \u2014 including agent James Moore \u2014 were immersed in what was happening more than 900 miles away on the main stage in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Entering his fourth season as a certified agent, Shipman is seeking opportunities for three players from the University of North Carolina \u2014 linebackers Shakeel Rashad and Jeff Schoettmer, and tailback Romar Morris \u2014 and North Carolina State offensive lineman Alex Barr .<\/p>\n

While picks were still being made, teams were thinking about who else to invite to training camp. The Atlanta Falcons even sent a YouTube video to NFL agents touting opportunities they provide to undrafted players.<\/p>\n

Shipman\u2019s staff noted every pick on a whiteboard and analyzed what it could mean for their clients. Shipman and Moore sent a steady stream of text messages to teams, as much to keep the players in the discussion as to get information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we get more nervous than the players,\u201d Moore said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

\n

Both Rashad and Schoettmer, who started every game in UNC\u2019s 11-win season, knew they were going to have to wait most of the day.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams appeared interested in Rashad, who was at his parents\u2019 home in Jacksonville, Florida. The Falcons seemed intrigued by Schoettmer, who was at his home in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Well into the fourth round, neither was watching.<\/p>\n

Schoettmer switched between golf and hockey, while Rashad took in a marathon of \u201cCriminal Minds\u201d while monitoring the draft on his laptop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel if I keep watching it, I\u2019ll keep getting stressed about it,\u201d Rashad said.<\/p>\n

Some players worry that no call will come, and their lifelong dream will end anti-climactically without ever getting to even work out with an NFL team.<\/p>\n

Shipman kept checking in with his clients to see how they were holding up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things I try to do with all these guys: stay in their head, keep them thinking positive, keep them worried about the things they can control, not worried about the things they can\u2019t control,\u201d Shipman said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s nothing they can do to control this process at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

That helplessness was evident as more calls started coming in.<\/p>\n

The Falcons appeared to move on from Schoettmer after drafting another linebacker. And while Shipman let teams know Rashad had interest in them, he hadn\u2019t been able to secure a deal nor a commitment from anyone to use a seventh-round pick on him.<\/p>\n

There was no panic, only an uptick in the tension and concern in the conversations across the table \u2014 and some pacing.<\/p>\n

Yet as Shipman and Moore called the linebackers, two new potential suitors phoned: New Orleans for Schoettmer, Houston for Rashad.<\/p>\n

The Saints offered Schoettmer a three-year deal and a $5,600 signing bonus \u2014 an offer that sparked high-fives around the room \u2014 but told Shipman they plan to bring in another undrafted linebacker to compete with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t worried about that,\u201d Shipman responds with a grin. \u201cUnless it\u2019s Thor (or) you\u2019re bringing in someone from the WWE that\u2019s 2\u00bd times bigger than him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texans offered Rashad a three-year deal with a $10,000 signing bonus that Shipman accepted to another round of high-fives.<\/p>\n

Just after 6 p.m., with at least 20 picks still left, Rashad and Schoettmer had their deals. Moore said they will pay $450,000 in the first year, $540,000 in 2017 and $630,000 in 2018 \u2014 if they make the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour childhood dream has been to play in the NFL and you get the chance to do that, and not many people get to do that,\u201d a relieved Schoettmer said. \u201cNow it\u2019s all on me to work my hardest and make this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

A weary Shipman plopped down at the staff table. It\u2019s nearly 7:30 p.m., more than 10 hours after Saturday\u2019s first calls came in.<\/p>\n

While Rashad and Schoettmer have contracts, Morris received only rookie mini-camp invitations. The New York Jets and Kansas City \u2014 two teams with deep backfields \u2014 each had called with invitations on Saturday. Neither situation was ideal, but Morris opted for the Jets. Then he received an invitation Sunday from the Chicago Bears and will also compete at their mini-camp the following week.<\/p>\n

Barr didn\u2019t garner much interest on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBittersweet,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

The calls slowed to a trickle, with Jacksonville, Seattle and Green Bay checking in late to see if Rashad was still available.<\/p>\n

Shipman and his staff had done all they could Saturday night, so they packed up.<\/p>\n

The next step is to find a chance for Barr. The staff was going through their list of contacts and making calls trying to get Barr a spot before minicamps open this week.<\/p>\n

The search for the next opportunity never really ends.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/aaronbeardap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WILMINGTON, N.C. \u2014 Gary Shipman was at his desk at noon Saturday, thumbing through depth charts and occasionally looking across the room at the wall-mounted TV trumpeting the start of the NFL draft\u2019s final day. Shipman, who represents four college football players eligible to play in the NFL this season, didn\u2019t expect to hear any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-33967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33967"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=33967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}