One thing we haven’t seen addressed on here are the challenges of conducting undrafted free agency “virtually”. Every team’s process is slightly different but here is a general example of what happens behind-the-scenes of the chaotic hour immediately following the draft...

The draft room is the control center. GM, head coach, salary cap manager, and director level guys are located here.

Scouts are dispatched to various assistant coaches offices to make recruiting calls and then report back to the draft room once they get a player committed...

In this example, your team finished the draft with 78 roster players, which means you need to sign 12 UDFA to reach 90-man limit. Those 12 spots will be broken down by positional need (ex. 2 RB, 3 WR, 3 OL, 1 LB, 2 CB, 1 PK).

The staff has already ranked UDFA by position.

If you need 2 RB then scouts/ass’t coaches will start calling the top 4-5 ranked players AND their agents. If the top 4-5 RBs all come from different parts of the country that will require all the various area scouts from those assigned regions to be involved in those calls.

Area scouts are the ones with boots on the ground so the recruiting efforts they put in all spring are critical. Keep in mind, top UDFA will have 20+ teams trying to call them so recruiting matters when it comes to whose phone call the player (and agent) accepts/ignores.

Scouts are usually given a set negotiating range/limit for each particular player’s signing bonus, which is the most critical piece of these negotiations. Once a scout/player/agent come to an agreement and get a commitment, the scout goes back to draft room to report it...

The scout announces the deal and the salary cap guy deducts that figure from the available UDFA signing bonus pool (assigned by NFL league office). HERE IS WHERE THE CHAOS OCCURS...

Because your team is recruiting/negotiating with 4 RBs for only 2 spots, many times multiple scouts will consummate deals in different offices at the same time. In that scenario, teams find themselves in situations where they have overcommitted and have to drop a player.

Another common pitfall is that sometimes players and agents aren’t on the same page and independently commit to different teams, which adds to the chaos. Usually in that scenario the head coach or GM will jump on a call to persuade the player or agent to sign with their team.

Apologies for long thread but this is just one scenario that creates chaos in UDFA. All parties are in competitive time crunch to make deals and you’re dealing with players/agents who are emotional after not getting drafted.

This post doesn’t do the adrenaline/stress/chaos of the UDFA process justice, as anyone that has been thru it on the team, player, or agent side will attest. Simply do not see how this process is conducted virtually.