Tips from Warren Moon, Kurt Warner, and other NFL veterans on the path to success for undrafted players

Coming out of the 49ers' 32-19 season-opening victory over the New York Jets, the participant of the recreation wasn't any of San Francisco's well-known stars. Instead, that honor went to Jordan Mason, unknown to the informal NFL fan prior to that Monday evening.

With celebrity working again Christian McCaffrey inactive due to harm, Mason made his first NFL begin in prime time — and stole the present. The third-year professional registered 28 carries for 147 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and a landing, the centerpiece of a speeding assault that overwhelmed the Jets. The final time Mason had that many carries or speeding yards in a single recreation? A 2016 highschool contest.

And this is the distinguishing issue about Mason: He's a former undrafted free agent.

Signed by the 49ers after the 2022 draft, the former Georgia Tech standout has been a mainstay as a core particular teamer, lacking just one recreation since becoming a member of the franchise.

“He came in pretty mature,” left deal with Trent Williams stated of Mason after the season opener. “Even being the third or fourth back, he was always ready. … He earned everybody's respect.”

Tom Brady’s 3 Stars of Week 1: Micah Parsons, Jordan Mason and Baker Mayfield

Mason is only one of the many undrafted players who will form the 2024 season. Undrafted free brokers symbolize a major share of the participant inhabitants — roughly a 3rd every season — however they get the shortest finish of the stick in a league with quick careers and few ensures. While their paths of perseverance and overcoming adversity are typically understood, the specifics of their tales can typically go neglected.

FOX Sports spoke with a number of former undrafted free brokers, each present players and retired legends, about their experiences with the UDFA label — and their appreciation for it.

‘They had been questioning what occurred to me'

For Warren Moon, undrafted standing introduced obscurity early in his skilled profession.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer's journey is well-documented — from Canadian Football League star to 17 seasons in the NFL, the place he was a nine-time Pro Bowler and the 1990 Offensive Player of the Year. He was the first Black quarterback and the first undrafted quarterback enshrined in Canton.

Moon was a outstanding school soccer participant at Washington — in the 1977 season, he led the Huskies to a Pac-8 title and a victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, the place he was named MVP. But after receiving intel that he'd be chosen late in the draft (if in any respect) — and then be requested to swap positions — Moon started his skilled profession in the CFL.

Not enjoying in the NFL out of school harm Moon, a lot in order that he felt betrayed by his nation. And enjoying in Canada, he actually dropped off the radar in America. Consistent live broadcasts of CFL games didn't gain traction in the U.S. until the 1980s.

During the 1982 NFL players' strike, with video games canceled, NBC broadcast CFL video games for a time, placing Moon again in entrance of an American viewers.

“People started to say, ‘Oh, that's where he went. Oh, he's up in Canada,'” Moon informed FOX Sports. “People were telling me that. They were wondering what happened to me.”

Warren Moon was enjoying for the Edmonton Eskimos in 1982 when Canadian Football League video games began getting air time in the U.S. due to the NFL players' strike. (Photo by David Madison / Getty Images)

Moon gained 5 consecutive Grey Cups (the CFL's equal of the Super Bowl). He was a two-time CFL MVP. He made some huge cash. He did not have to take care of the racism he confronted in the U.S. He was snug in Canada.

Still, he could not resist the urge to play in the NFL.

“In the back of my mind, you're still watching NFL games [and thinking]: ‘Am I good enough to play?'” stated Moon, who signed with the Houston Oilers forward of the 1984 season after a bidding conflict for his companies. “These people told me I wasn't good enough. Can I make it at that level? And that burning desire is what brought me back.”

A vote of confidence

Entering the NFL, Kenny Moore II felt impostor syndrome.

Today, the Colts star is arguably the league's finest nickelback, a participant who has signed two record-setting offers for his place. But popping out of Valdosta State in 2017, he noticed himself as much less assured than everybody else.

He initially signed with the Patriots, who had been coming off their historic Super Bowl LI comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Around the locker room had been established players who'd been by way of a number of Super Bowls collectively, headlined by quarterback Tom Brady, now thought-about the best participant of all time. Moore's personal place group featured the likes of Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler, the Super Bowl XLIX hero.

Then there was Moore, a Division II undrafted rookie with a $2,000 signing bonus.

Despite his humble NFL beginnings as an undrafted participant out of Division II Valdosta State, Kenny Moore II has develop into a star with the Colts. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Images)

After a coaching camp and preseason through which he gave his all and impressed the Patriots, Moore was lower anyway. It marked the first time he'd been “fired” as a soccer participant, the first time he'd been informed he wasn't ok. But he remembers vividly a dialog with coach Bill Belichick, speaking in a hallway after he'd obtained the information.

Belichick's message: You did all you may.

“To hear that from one of the greatest coaches ever — and his type of criticism that went into the game, his type of corrections [of my game] — he had already given me all the tools that I needed to take the next step,” Moore informed FOX Sports. “So wherever I landed after that, I knew I was equipped. I laid my head down that night with relief, with a lot of humility, just to wake up the next day not knowing what was going to happen, but I knew I was ready for it.

“The subsequent day, I used to be flying to Indy.”

Handling the adversity

Outside linebacker Caleb Murphy made the Titans' roster last season as an undrafted rookie from Division II Ferris State, where he set the NCAA single-season record with 25.5 sacks and tied the NCAA record with 39 tackles for loss.

He admits his rookie season was hard for him. Despite starring in the preseason, he was inactive for all but three regular-season games.

That experience has helped him learn to prioritize his mental health. After being alone in Nashville last season, having family live with him this year has helped.

Now in his second NFL season, Caleb Murphy has played in a handful of games as a backup linebacker for the Titans. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

“You cannot make everybody lively, and I used to be simply the man they selected not to make lively most video games,” Murphy told FOX Sports. “Just speaking to folks [about mental struggles]. You've acquired to talk. Sticking to your self and figuring it out on your personal by no means works. You have to let it out as a result of there's a variety of stuff going on you could't management. You have to have the option to talk to somebody how you're feeling.

“I take pride in being here — just because I am here,” he continued. “Any undrafted guy should be happy if they make the 53. … I pride myself on that every day.”

Playing to your strengths

What's the key to sticking round a workforce, to having endurance in the NFL as an undrafted participant? According to Kurt Warner, like Moon an undrafted quarterback who wound up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it is leaning into your strengths.

Many UDFAs do not possess the bodily attributes of a high draft decide, however Warner says they've particular traits inside them. That's what he believes epitomized his profession — from school at Northern Iowa to a tryout with the Green Bay Packers, to stocking cabinets at a grocery retailer, to graduate assistant at his alma mater, to the Arena Football League, to Rams backup and to turning into an NFL beginning quarterback for the first time at age 28.

“I had things that I could do that were I think as good as anybody that's ever played the game,” Warner informed FOX Sports. “Not having [certain] skills may have been why I was undrafted and went the route that I did. But it was those skills that were still there that allowed me to separate myself whenever I was on the football field.”

Warner, the solely undrafted participant to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, constructed a repute as a high playoff performer. He owns three of the high six passing yard totals in Super Bowl historical past.

Kurt Warner was MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV after throwing for 414 yards and two TDs in the Rams' 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. (STEVE SCHAEFER/AFP by way of Getty Images)

“At some point, you've got to recognize, ‘Hey, I can't make throws like Patrick Mahomes. I can't run like Lamar Jackson. So I'm going to focus on the things that I do well. And I'm going to continue to get better at those things, because if I'm going to separate myself, it's going to be in these areas,'” Warner added. “And so I think it's really important for undrafted guys to have confidence in who they are, to recognize what their skill set is and what they bring that's unique to the table, and make sure they're continuing to focus on that.

“I feel it is very, crucial to showcase these issues and to acknowledge these issues in ourselves, so we will play to our strengths and reap the benefits of each alternative that we're given.”

‘I did not need the journey I had'

Warner doesn't know that he fully appreciated his football journey, captured in the 2021 biographical sports film “American Underdog,” until it was over. But he started to gain some idea early in his NFL career, realizing how his unconventional path forced him to become a better player. He became a more complete person. His character developed in a different way.

And he is appreciative for what all that introduced him.

“For so lengthy, I did not need the journey that I had,” Warner said. “I did not need to speak about being the grocery retailer man. I needed to speak about, ‘Hey, I made it and I belong in the similar class as these other nice players of this period.' And not simply because I used to be undrafted or not as a result of I labored in a grocery retailer and now I'm doing this, however I needed my accomplishments to stand alone.

“Then eventually, you start to embrace being different, things being different and doing things in a different way. And the fact that nobody will ever have my story. That's the kind of stuff you embrace when it's all said and done.”

As a Hall of Famer, Warner now embraces his journey from undrafted standing to Canton. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images by way of Getty Images)

Moore believes he'd get extra consideration if he performed for a franchise in a much bigger market. He believes that if he had been an early to mid-round decide, he'd be a four- or five-time Pro Bowler by now, as an alternative of a one-time Pro Bowler.

He additionally believes that, as a former undrafted participant, he has to work tougher for recognition. And he considers nickelback a “dirty job” that is “not very pretty to highlight” on the aspect of the ball that will get much less consideration.

“It marries up with everything that I've endured to keep proving it — not to others, but to myself,” Moore stated. “That I can still go get it out in the mud. I can still be behind the 8-ball and still make something shake with that.

“When we're speaking a few man who's in his eighth 12 months in the league, being undrafted, it has been the whole lot I hoped for,” he continued. “It's been the whole lot I've labored for. … I'm in the stretch line each single day earlier than apply simply excited about how blessed I'm. It's actually that. It's actually that lately, as a result of the NFL is difficult sufficient to make it and make desires come true.

“I got a huge appreciation because I know where I came from.”

Against the odds

At the finish of August, the Titans posted a now-viral video of common supervisor Ran Carthon and head coach Brian Callahan informing 5 on-the-bubble players that they'd made Tennessee's preliminary 53-man roster.

One of these players was David Martin-Robinson, an undrafted rookie tight finish from Temple.

“You gave me the opportunity,” Martin-Robinson stated in the video, expressing gratitude. “It's all I wanted and needed.”

The ensuing weekend, Martin-Robinson went dwelling to Pennsylvania. He celebrated the information with household and pals. A neighbor even gave Martin-Robinson a pack of lottery tickets as a present.

That's when a cousin chimed in.

“Yo, what do the odds say on that ticket right there?”

Martin-Robinson checked.

“You don't even need that,” the cousin continued. “You've already won the lotto!”

“That hit hard,” Martin-Robinson informed FOX Sports of the interplay. “When I sit down and think about it, it is something I am very proud of, you know? There aren't very many that get to say they've done it and that they've made it to this point.

“At the similar time, I'm excited to maintain going.”

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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