There are plenty of undrafted players around the league who are catching eyeballs so we can’t suggest that Murphy and McGlothern are total outliers but a pattern does appear to be developing with UDFAs.
Last year the Minnesota Vikings picked up an undersized linebacker who had remarkable college production in the undrafted free agent market and by the second week of training camp it was starting to look like Ivan Pace Jr. was going to make an impact right away. He went on to become a key starter and PFF’s highest graded rookie linebacker.
There are always factors that go beyond production and measurables like health, character etc. If those played into Murphy’s drop, they were not publicly reported anywhere. Flores made sure to mention that nobody should crown Murphy just yet. The Vikings haven’t played their first preseason game of the year and he hasn’t made the team but there are signals that he could work his way into a roster spot and maybe more.
“The ball skills would be the first thing that comes to mind,” Flores said of the corner who picked off seven passes in his two seasons at Arkansas. “He's a guy who's got a knack and a feel for being around the ball when it's in the air. Obviously he's got height and length and speed. The instincts are the things that jumped out to me and us as a staff.”Measurably speaking, he did not perform as well as Murphy, scoring below the 50th percentile in overall Relative Athletic Score.
The two standouts aren’t the only ones who have done enough in the early stage of camp to make their case in preseason action. Receiver Jeshaun Jones and tight end Trey Knox have caught a good number of passes, outside linebacker Owen Porter is receiving pass rushing reps and linebacker Dallas Gant has mixed in.
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