As soon as the seventh round came to a close, NFL clubs immediately begin placing calls in attempts to sign undrafted free agents. While we will be sharing that information eventually, the sudden flurry of activity makes it difficult to track in real time. As such, we’ll wait until teams formally announce their UDFA signings before we post the news (along with accompanying signing bonuses).
Here’s the latest as the 2016 draft is in the rearview mirror…
- Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome denied a report that his club would have drafted Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil except for a social media posting that showed him smoking out of bong, tweets Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore selected fellow tackle Ronnie Stanley instead of Tunsil.
- Bruce Arians says the Cardinals had a grade on a quarterback in every round, but other teams picked the signal-callers in question before Arizona got the chance, as Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The Steelers tried to trade back into the fifth round, says general manager Kevin Colbert, but no other clubs wanted to trade back, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link).
- Having lost Brad Nortman to the Jaguars over the offseason, Panthers GM Dave Gettleman says his team would have selected a punter in the seventh round had a draft-worthy one been available, reports David Newton of ESPN.com. Gettleman also relayed that he declined offers to trade up because Carolina is already missing a 2017 seventh-rounder and didn’t want to give up more capital (Twitter link via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer).
- The Bears plan to target tight ends in undrafted free agency, GM Ryan Pace told Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link).