How can I make it to the NFL if I have been out of college? Tips for hungry players
Are you sitting at home wondering how you can make it back to the NFL, or even get a shot with the CFL/AFL?
Well let me help you out a bit. First off, it is not easy. I am not going to sit here an sugar coat this process. It is hard. Just because you are at home does not mean your agent is not working. It does not mean that NFL scouts are dumb. It means YOU are not doing enough to get your name out there.
After you play your final game in college football, your college playing career is over. The NFL is broken down into two departments. The Pro side and the College side. If you are in college, what NFL scouts are watching you? If you said college you are smarter than most.
The college scouts recruit you while you are in college. They help their department by assessing your play and writing up reports. Those reports are important, because they can crush you later on down the road. If a team likes you back in college, that is good. If you had a horrible pro day, and a horrible career, that too can hurt you.
Once your college career is over, and the draft is over. If you do not hear your name called your window of using your college film is closing. The reason you hear people say you need film is because now your film has been turned over the Pro Side of the NFL scouting department. Pro Scouts look at Pro Film. If you do not have film playing at the pro level, you are hurting yourself. So you are probably asking me so what do I do?
Well, the first thing you can do is sign up for CFL and AFL workouts. You can get an account online at Podyum (A website to help players find work overseas). Lastly you can sit at home and pray. The last one is a good idea/bad idea, especially when it says in the bible, Faith without work is dead. So let me give you some advice.
Go outside and make a video. Do the same drills they do at the combine, but don’t put benching, broad jump, etc….. Show off your skills. If you are a cornerback, show off your hips. If you are a receiver show off your hands. Show the scouts that you have talent. Look at my boy Tyler Davis. He came home from Germany, after being a hero over there for Kiel Baltic, and I had him make this video. This video right here landed him a deal with the Miami Dolphins. He was later released, and now he is on the BC Lions in Canada. All because of this video. It opened the eyes of teams, because he did a great job.
If you are sitting at home trying to figure it out, make a video like this. Send it to me. If it is good, I will add it to my youtube videos and help spread the word. Help yourself, because others are not worried about you, like you worry about you.
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com