Cut-down day tough on undrafted rookies … One of the concerns around the NFL this odd off-season was that because of the limited training camps, it was going to be relatively difficult for later round draft picks, as well as undrafted signees, to make a final roster. Turns out that that was not the case for this year’s draft class as relatively few players selected this past April were released at this weekend’s deadline. The undrafted rookies, though, didn’t fare as well. In fact, by our unofficial count only 32 signed after they were not selected at this year’s draft were still on their respective team’s 53-man roster after the Turk’s visit on the weekend. That’s roughly half the figure in each of the past 2-3 years. As well, only 16 teams, half the league’s complement, kept any undrafted player. Of those that did, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay kept the most undrafted rookies, four each, while Carolina, Dallas, and the LA Rams kept three each and Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City and New Orleans kept a pair of undrafted rookies.
