Roger Lewis goes undrafted

[BGSU33]

This is NOT what you leave two years of eligibility on the table for. I know he still has a shot and likely will get a sniff as a free agent, but that could have been the case in each of the next two years if he came back to school and didn't leave early. This is exactly why I wished like hell that he returned to school. I feel bad for him, but I am not surprised one bit this happened. I felt him leaving early - especially this early - was a big mistake.

[MarkL]

He was a bit between a rock and a hard place. Had he stayed another year, he'd have entered the draft as a 23 year old. And given how short NFL WR careers can be, age can be a risk.

It sure would have been nice for Knapke to have another year of throwing to Lewis. The 2014 season would have been a complete disaster if Lewis were not out there catching passes.

[BGSU33]

It's a shame and bad enough when you see guys leave one year early and have this happen. But to leave two years early and see this??? Man I wish he stayed.

[Globetrotter]

Already signed with the Giants. On a roster he can make. He'll be fine.

[Flipper]

They took a WR in round two and have some talent returning....I wish him luck!

[hammb]

Good luck to him. Hope he makes the roster.

Still made a massive blunder. Insanely stupid and terrible misread of the situation.

[Globetrotter]

That's way over the top. I agree he made a mistake, I would bet he had information to make him believe he would get drafted.

He actually got to pick the perfect place for him and he can easily make that roster.

[Globetrotter]

LWR 13 Beckham Jr., Odell 14/1 18 Davis, Geremy 15/6 83 Edwards, Ben SF15 18 Harris, Marcus SF13
RWR 80 Cruz, Victor CF10 17 Harris, Dwayne U/Dal 19 White, Myles SF15 15 King, Tavarres SF15 8 Dable, Anthony SF16

2-4 guys on that are locks.

[Flipper]

They took Shepherd in RD 2...most teams carry six. Beckham, D Harris, SHepherd, Cruz, ...so...he'll be fighting guys that saw action last year and other FA's for two spots. It's going to be an uphill climb.

[hammb]

They took Shepherd in RD 2...most teams carry six. Beckham, D Harris, SHepherd, Cruz, ...so...he'll be fighting guys that saw action last year and other FA's for two spots. It's going to be an uphill climb.

Always is but that's about as good of a situation you can find to make it as a udfa. League average is about 1.5 udfa making the roster as rookies.

And again passing up 2 more years of free education, and potentially playing your way into the draft, for a udfa contract is insanely stupid.

Hopefully he makes it. Probably gonna need to work on covering kicks/punts to give himself the best shot.

[Globetrotter]

Dont know what they have with Cruz either and Harris is still a wild card. I was very wrong on him getting drafted. But I think he landed in a best possible scenario. Not much long term investment in the position.

[naandre]

A year from now Lewis wasn't going to be any faster or taller, his stats wouldn't be any better, he wouldn't have any new tape of him running advanced routes, his rape issues wouldn't have disappeared, and his age would be another negative added to his measurables. This was his best shot in the draft, he took it, and if he takes it seriously he'll get to spend the next year getting professional coaching geared solely to making him a better pro while making a cool $100,000 on the practice squad. If he gets lucky in training camp maybe he'll make the active roster and make a half a million. He made the right choice.

[BGSU33]

A year from now Lewis wasn't going to be any faster or taller, his stats wouldn't be any better, he wouldn't have any new tape of him running advanced routes, his rape issues wouldn't have disappeared, and his age would be another negative added to his measurables. This was his best shot in the draft, he took it, and if he takes it seriously he'll get to spend the next year getting professional coaching geared solely to making him a better pro while making a cool $100,000 on the practice squad. If he gets lucky in training camp maybe he'll make the active roster and make a half a million. He made the right choice.

A year from now, or even two years from now for that matter, he could, no - make that would - have been a better overall player than he is right now no matter what this stats were in the future. If he was simply done with college completely, then his decision is easy to understand. But if he left two years on the table to simply make the leap, then it turned out to be a poor decision. And this talk about his age is ridiculous. He's not 30 years old for crying out loud. He obviously had a legal issue and then prepped a year which set him back from his peers only. Had he stayed a year or even two more years he wasn't going to be past his prime or less of a player. He'd actually be a year or two more mature and further along in his development than many of the guys he would be competing against coming out. His prime years are still well ahead of him.

I still think he left too early, but I actually thought he was still going to be drafted. I was sad for him that in doing so he wasn't picked because many of the guys you see sign as free agents are pretty average players. Not all of them, but many of them. A lot of them will get cut, some will bounce around from team to team on a practice squad, and a few of them will stick around or make it with a team. I hope for Roger's sake it's that latter. He seems like a really good kid who has gotten his life on a good track and I'd just hate to see him leave what he did behind him and end up not making it. But whether he was drafted or picked up as a free agent, he still has an opportunity and I hope he makes the best of it. But unlike our other free agent guys like Johnson, Greene and Huettel who exhausted their collegiate eligibility, Lewis was only half way through it. I'll be pulling for him and all four of them to make it for that matter, but I disagree this was his "best shot" at making it. If his best shot at leaving two years early saw him go undrafted, then his best shot was still ahead of him. That said, I do hope he gives it his best shot to make a team.

[MacGuy]

I would think the unproven QB situation was a big factor.

[naandre]

A year from now, or even two years from now for that matter, he could, no - make that would - have been a better overall player than he is right now no matter what this stats were...

If you think he has the ability to improve enough in the next two years to be a draft worthy player, isn't he much more likely to make that improvement working with professional coaches and players while having access to top of the line training facilities? His measurables weren't going to change so, if he stayed he'd be looking to work his way into being a late round pick. In many cases that's a worse situation then going undrafted because you have no choice where you end up and the money isn't much different. If he can't stick on a practice squad this year he's not good enough to play in the league. If he does stick then he's going to make good money while getting to focus full time on making himself a better player.