Projecting the 2011 Draft: Free Agents

Yesterday, I looked at the players who were likely to get drafted in the NFL draft beginning on Thursday. Today, I look at some of the players who might slip into the seven round draft, but are more likely to get signed as a free agent as soon as draft finishes.

Chris Conte

A bit like Cameron Jordan, Chris Conte has made a great case for himself starting his senior year. The difference is that Jordan performed his way into the first round, while Conte has gone from being an unknown to giving himself a real shot at playing on Sundays.

Conte was a three year reserve at the cornerback position, and switched to his more natural position at safety beginning towards the end of junior season in practice. After firming up starting role in the offseason, and things really took off for Conte.

Conte ended his senior season on a bang, finishing with first team All Pac-10 honors.

Things got even better for Conte with his combine and pro day numbers. At the combine, Conte ran the forty in 4.52 seconds, and recorded 18 reps on the bench press, along with a 35.5 vertical.

There’s actually more than a strong chance that Conte gets drafted. He’s got prototypical NFL size for a safety (6’2, 200 lbs), and his measurables would put him up with some of the top safety picks. He’s shown he can play a variety of positions, and teams may take a shot with him if they need help at either safety position or some solid depth with special teams.


His sample size of solid play may be a bit too small with just one season as a starter however, and Conte still lacks the ideal fluidity in the hips to be an immediate safe bet against some of league’s premier receivers. Despite always being around the ball, Conte also doesn’t have the level of field vision yet to be considered a ball-hawking safety.

Still, I do think that for the reasons mentioned above, that Conte will almost certainly end up in a team camp if he doesn’t slip into the seventh round.


Jeremy Ross

On paper, Ross has got so many things going for him. The guy has ideal athleticism, size and speed to play at the next level.

Ross ran a blistering 4.4 range in the forty at Cal’s pro day, to go along with an eye popping 39 inches in the vertical. He also put up 22 reps on the bench press. Simply put, he put up the kind of numbers that had scouts saying, “Now’s the time to go and look at some film.”

Therein lies the issue however. Ross was never able to put it all together to be a premier wide receiver for the Bears. Prone to a number of drops early in his career, Ross was known more for his flashes of brilliance, as well as his propensity to hurdle nearly everything and anything in sight. He was more of a role player wide receiver, an at-best 3rd option in multiple wide receiver packages. Ross never topped more than 350 receiving yards in a season, with just 3 collegiate TD catches.

Ross was a bit more productive his senior year before having his year cut short with a season-ending injury. He also was a bit of a revelation at the punt returner position, returning one in junior season and hosting a fairly solid average during his senior season. Ross was also productive on the ground on end arounds.

Still, most NFL teams aren’t drafting today for utility players, instead looking to fill those needs in free agency, which is where I think Ross will end up. He’s going to get a decent look at special teams, and may end up being a decent receiving option if he can show consistency with his hands. Here’s hoping that he can become a bit of a feel-good free agency story much like Verran Tucker last year, who ended up starting a few games with the Chiefs.


Kevin Riley

Coming into the season, when asked about Kevin Riley’s NFL chances, I stated that Riley would have had have had a breakout senior season in order for him to have a shot at getting drafted. Let’s face it: you really have to be an elite player to be an effective NFL quarterback, and Riley’s career at Cal had been too up and down, despite some bright moments.

As we all know, although Riley showed improvement during his senior season, his year was tragically cut short with a season ending injury at OSU. Even prior to his injury, Riley didn’t show quite the breakthrough type of consistent performance to make you think that NFL teams would consider Riley as draftworthy material.

It’s tragic in that Riley displays some of the qualities that you absolutely love from a collegiate quarterback. Riley was a natural leader, a fiery competitor who really improved with every season. For the most part, he took care of the ball, and managed most games fairly well.

He had also shown improvement in nearly every passing category since his first year as a starter.
(via ESPN)

However, he never seemed to get a firm grasp of his delivery, with his accuracy still too inconsistent to considered an NFL quarterback.

I do think there’s still a chance Riley could end up in an NFL camp. He’s got a lot of games under his belt in the Pac-10, and shows good athleticism and size. Still, I do think people underestimate just how difficult it is to make in the NFL as a quarterback. If it doesn’t work out with Riley in the NFL, I think he has a great shot to play in any of the other leagues (AFL, UFL, CFL).