With Super Bowl XLIII in the books, fans of all teams including the Super Bowl champs Pittsburgh Steelers are eagerly anticipating the draft in April. The great thing, among many, about the most exciting drafting process in all of sports is that it becomes a competition in it of itself. It’s a contest that, yes, even the Detroit Lions can emerge victorious. While it won’t give a team like the Lions their first notch in the win column in over sixteen months, it is capable of spurring unbridled optimism amongst sports’ most passionate fans for the upcoming season.

For the casual fan, the draft is simply a matter of, “Who did we take with our first pick?” For the die hard it’s, “Who was Mr. Irrelevant?” or “Who did we nab with that 6th round compensatory pick?” For many rabid fans it’s who is drafted in the late rounds and who their favorite teams bring in as undrafted free agents that make the process exciting.

With that said, I’ve assembled two teams—one made up of players drafted in the 5th round or later this decade and one made up of undrafted free agents. It’s quite shocking in that these squads appear to more resemble a pro bowl roster rather than players that were passed on in the early rounds or forgotten altogether. The point is there are certainly diamonds in the rough. Keep in mind I’m only using active players for both teams.

ALL-FIFTH ROUND AND LATER TEAM

ALL-UNDRAFTED FREE AGENT TEAM

* – Been to a Pro Bowl

Related posts:

1. NFL Draft Round One Rewind Podcast
2. NFL DRAFT…SMALL SCHOOL GEMS…A Trio Of Wildcats
3. NFL DRAFT…SMALL SCHOOL GEMS…QB Nathan Brown, Central Arkansas
4. NFL DRAFT…SMALL SCHOOL GEMS…WR Ramses Barden, Cal-Poly
5. NFL DRAFT…SMALL SCHOOL GEMS…Rashad Jennings, Liberty

Tags: NFL Draft