Life After the Draft

Life after playing a sport is tough for any athlete, at any level. After spending countless hours training and practicing to perform on the field, adjusting to a regular schedule can be difficult. Only a select few get to continue their careers at a higher rank, whether in college, or at the professional level.

Some athletes that leave the collegiate level still wish to continue playing but do not know if pro teams will ever come calling to give them a shot. In football, if a player goes undrafted, some immediately get invitations to attend a training camp and earn a free agent contract. For those who don’t get that invitation to a camp, they enter a figurative limbo that requires determination and patience to survive and continue pursuing the dream.

This situation applied to Oregon seniors every year, like Ducks football cornerback Anthony Gildon in 2011, a highly-rated playmaker who was held back by unfortunate injuries just when his time had come to shine on the field as a full-time starter. Despite his best efforts, and without extended playing time, Gildon wasn’t expected to be drafted and had to sit at home while numerous teammates were selected.

After the draft, Gildon wasn’t invited to a training camp either. While former Oregon teammates like Darrion Weems and Cliff Harris got invites to join NFL teams, Gildon’s phone didn’t ring.

At that point, Gildon was faced with the decision to continue pursuing the dream to play in the NFL, or hang up the jersey and enter the real world with a degree in hand.

Some athletes that have been in Gildon’s position look to the CFL, some to the Arena League, while others try to latch onto international club teams. Regardless of where a player ends up, staying in shape and self-promotion are the two biggest tasks for an aspiring professional athlete.

Gildon kept himself in shape for the professional football opportunity at a private training facility in Los Angeles, where other athletes with similar backgrounds train for a shot at the pros as well. As for the promotion element, rather than franchises pursuing him like they do with top draft picks, Gildon worked closely with his agent Jedd McHaffie to market his talents to a potential team,.

Through the use of a video highlight package and a bit of luck, teams eventually catch wind of the talent. McHaffie has had previous success finding spots for Oregon players, including Marvin Johnson, a safety at Oregon from 2006 to 2010.

 

Marvin Johnson

Marvin Johnson was awarded the Wilson Award for most outstanding special teams player at Oregon in 2009 and totaled five tackles in the 2010 Rose Bowl.

Like Gildon, Johnson also went undrafted and had to reach out to agents to find an opportunity to play.

“[Finding an agent] was very difficult. I didn’t know anything about contacting agents.” Said Johnson, now a member of the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks in the Indoor Football Lleague.

“Another Oregon player told me he knew an agent that was willing to work with me. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, so I just kept on asking other former players who their agents were, and if they would be willing to work with me, too. My mindset was that I wasn’t done playing football, and that I’m good enough to play at the next level. I just had to keep working out and keep hitting the gym. I wasn’t ready to give it up. I knew that there would be an opportunity at some given time.”

Eventually, Johnson found McHaffie, and the two of them began the marketing process to showcase Johnson’s talents to prospective teams.
“When I found an agent, he took all the tapes and footage that I have and tried to pass that along to other teams,” Johnson said . “I actually got in contact with my [current] team over the internet, where my agent had posted some footage, and we got the contract underway. My agent made everything easier. He handled all the marketing and paperwork, while I focused on playing football and training.”

For Johnson, staying confident was key in his time off from football. Through maintaining his physical regimen, a lot of hard work, and a little luck, Johnson was able to latch on with a team and continued to play organized football, something Gildon now hopes he too can achieve.

 

Jedd McHaffie

Jedd McHaffie represents several former Oregon athletes, his job is to ensure his clients get the best possible opportunity to continuing playing. McHaffie has had previous success finding spots on professional rosters for Oregon players, including Marvin Johnson and Andre Crenshaw.

1. Tell me about the process in which a player goes about contacting an agent after graduating from Oregon. How do you work together to find work for the athlete?

Oregon has a list of approved agents that are allowed to talk to athletes. I’m not on that list yet, but I signed Andre [Crenshaw] and Marvin [Johnson] after they had already been unhappy with other agents. Once you do sign them, you have to talk to them about what their expectations are. Everyone wants to play in the NFL, but it’s not a reality for everybody. I find out where they want to play, and I tell them where their “bottom-line” is realistically for their abilities, and still get the exposure needed to get into the CFL or NFL.

2. Instead of teams coming to players, players have to market themselves to teams. How do you go about that?

There’s technology, that plays a big part, sending clips along through messaging, but I also send along player bios, an athletic resume. I make those for my clients and send them to every team in the NFL so they actually have a piece of paper with a picture, and stats, so it’s long enough to have depth, but short enough to keep their attention. With those packets, I send a DVD of their highlights to avoid problems with videos on the internet. All together, they’re sent to scouts, and directors of personnel.

3. Highlight tapes must be an intensive part of the process, right?

Yes, for the guys coming from the U of O, they have to make their own highlight reels. For whatever reason, UO doesn’t allow players to have their highlights. Marvin [Johnson] is a perfect example. He had a great highlight tape when he was in college, but he couldn’t use it. We had to go through other routes to get some film, but luckily I have a friend in the Eugene area that does some video editing, and he put a few videos together for Marvin. And for Andre Crenshaw, we’re getting ready to make his IFL video for this season.

4. What works better in your opinion: highlights, or player bios?

They work together. On both the highlights and player bios, I put contact information, along with all the combine drill scores the players have such as 40-yard dash time, shuttle run, etc. But they have to complement each other, because everyone wants to see players in action, and they want to see a 40 time, for example.