Typically the night after the seventh round of the NFL Draft and the next day or two players who are not drafted sign as priority free agents with NFL teams, but now with the lockout in place will those players ink a deal with an UFL team. A UFL rookie salary is comparable to that of a NFL practice squad player.
However, the real key would be that these players will actually be on a team and cashing a pay check, because who knows how long the lockout will last and if teams will remember who those undrafted players are. So, we could see an influx in the top undrafted rookies taking a chance with a lesser league.
The UFL Draft kicks off at 8 p.m (ET) tonight and will be announced via the coaches twitter accounts. Each round lasts 15 minutes and lasts for a total of 10 rounds.
Hartford Colonial coach Jerry Glanville is confident in landing a few of the top undrafted guys:
"People don't realize that 11 percent of NFL rosters are made up of (former rookie) free agents," said Jerry Glanville, the Hartford Colonials' coach/GM and former Falcons and Oilers coach. "So can these guys play? Without question. In fact, a lot of the free agents that don't make it are with teams that don't have the need they fill. And you look at our team last year at Hartford, with 18 players off the roster playing in the NFL, we're pretty good anyway."
Here is the list of twitter accounts if you wish to follow along and see if any Mountain West players get drafted.
UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue @UFLCommissioner
Hartford Colonials Jerry Glanville @JerryGlanville
Omaha Nighthawks Joe Moglia @@UFLJoeMoglia
Sacramento Mountain Lions Dennis Green @UFLDennisGreen
Virginia Destroyers Marty Schottenheimer @DestroyersMarty
Las Vegas Locos Jim Fassel @LocosJimFassel
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