Dolphins receiver has a message for players who weren't taken in the NFL Draft
The NFL Draft came and went. Over three days, 256 players heard their names called and knew where they would be for the immediate future of their professional football career.
But there were also hundreds of others who weren't selected who are trying to find somewhere — anywhere — to latch onto a roster and continue chasing their dream.
Danny Amendola knows how they feel.
He also knows it's not the end of the road.
Amendola, a 10-year NFL veteran, two-time Super Bowl champion and new Miami Dolphins wide receiver, started his career as an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech in 2008. A decade later, the 32-year-old receiver is still in the league making an impact.
On Tuesday, three days following the conclusion of the draft, Amendola penned a letter on The Players' Tribune to the undrafted free agents to give them a sense of assurance.
The odds might look slim, but slim is better than nothing.
"I’ll start with the good news for most of you: This definitely doesn’t mean football is over for you. You still have a shot," Amendola wrote. "But here’s the bad news: That’s all you have now. One shot. Moving forward, you don’t need to be perfect but you no longer have the benefit of making the same mistake twice."
Perseverance plays a factor, too. Amendola learned that firsthand.
He spent his first season on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad and then opened the 2009 season as a practice squad player for the Philadelphia Eagles, where he built a relationship with then-Eagles quarterbacks coach Pat Shurmur during the offseason.
A couple weeks into the regular season that year, Amendola received a call from the St. Louis Rams, where Shurmur became the offensive coordinator. They signed him to the active roster. It was his first real chance in the league.
He caught 43 passes for 326 yards and a touchdown in 14 games in that first season. He started two contests in place of the injured Laurent Robertson. It was a modest start, but it was a start nonetheless.
"That’s how fast it can happen," Amendola wrote. "You can think you’re just about at the end of the line, then you go from the extended stay motel to playing in front of 80,000 people. "
After four years, 196 catches, 1,726 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in St. Louis, Amendola signed with the New England Patriots and became Bill Belichick's newest slot receiver.
Amendola played in 69 games with 29 starts and caught 230 passes for 2,383 yards and 12 touchdowns during his five seasons in New England. He also played in three Super Bowls during that span, winning rings in 2014 and 2016.
And now, he's in Miami and has a chance to figure prominently in the Dolphins' offense.
"No matter what, you can never stop believing that your time will come," Amendola wrote. "Unfortunately, I can’t teach you how to do that. That’s something that you need to find inside yourself. But if that fire is there — if this is what you know, beyond any doubt, that you were meant to do — you can a find a way. "
Amendola's full letter can be read here.
This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Dolphins receiver has a message for players who weren't taken in the NFL Draft."