Woodling: KU alumni prove non-drafted players can thrive

By Chuck Woodling Apr 27, 2004

Now that the NFL Draft is over at last, the free-agent pool remains, as usual, vast.

It’s no secret Kansas University hasn’t had many football players drafted during the last decade. KU, in fact, hasn’t had a first-round selection since defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield in 1993.

Not that it matters. Once you get past the first couple of rounds, the draft is a crapshoot. A player selected in the late rounds earns bonus signing money, but no guarantees. It could be argued that free agents, without the big bonus money, are hungrier.

Would you be surprised to learn that at least five former KU football players went on to have productive NFL careers even though they were ignored in the draft?

They aren’t household names, but these five former Jayhawks fooled the pro scouts and became NFL contributors:

Broderick Thompson. Pro scouts weren’t interested in this junior-college transfer after he spent two seasons (1981-82) at defensive tackle for the Jayhawks. However, Thompson hooked on with the Dallas Cowboys, who converted him to offensive tackle, and Thompson spent 10 seasons in the NFL with four different teams.
Elvis Patterson. A defensive back who walked into New York Giants’ camp in 1984 and earned a job, Patterson played four seasons in Big Apple despite acquiring the early nickname “Toast” because he had a penchant for giving up TD bombs. Patterson improved enough, however, to fashion an 11-year NFL career.
Kwamie Lassiter. A hard-hitting safety who was bypassed primarily because he spent six years in college and was older than most draft candidates (Lassiter was given a special hardship ruling after suffering an early season injury in 1993), he hooked on with Arizona Cardinals where he started for eight seasons before signing with San Diego prior to the 2003 campaign. He’s still on the Chargers’ roster after missing the last third of the ’03 season because of a knee injury.
Harry Sydney. A running back who switched to QB as a KU senior in 1980, he did not impress NFL scouts at either position. Sydney was given a look-see by Cincinnati in 1981, but was released. Then he landed with the old Denver Gold of the AFL in 1983-84. After the league folded, Sydney didn’t resurface until 1987 with San Francisco, where he spent five seasons as a fullback and special-teams player. Sydney concluded his pro career with Green Bay in 1992.
Frank Wattelet. A contemporary of Sydney, Wattelet was a strong safety from Abilene who wasn’t very fast and wasn’t very big, but nevertheless lasted seven years with the New Orleans Saints, mostly as a starting free safety, after landing a free-agent tryout in 1981. He spent one year with the Rams before retiring.

I probably should throw Curtis McClinton into this free-agent category, too, although technically he doesn’t belong.

McClinton, a running back who played in the same backfield with All-American John Hadl, wasn’t drafted by an NFL team, but he was taken in the 14th round of the fledgling AFL in 1962 by the Dallas Texans and became the league’s rookie of the year. The Dallas franchise became the Kansas City Chiefs a year later, and McClinton played eight years with the Texans-Chiefs, earning berths in two AFL All-Star games.

For certain, McClinton is the lowest-round KU draft choice ever to make an impact in pro football, and he always will be because the draft was shortened to seven rounds in 1986.

McClinton edged Galen Fiss by one round. Fiss, a 13th round selection of the Cleveland Browns in 1953, was named to the Pro Bowl twice during an 11-year career as a pro linebacker.

In a more contemporary vein, Gerald McBurrows sticks out. A defensive back tapped in the seventh round of the 1995 NFL Draft, McBurrows will begin his 10th pro season when the Atlanta Falcons’ camp opens this summer. Another seventh rounder who became an NFL starter was offensive tackle Rod Jones, whose career was cut short last year by a knee injury.

Not every free agent or low draft choice makes it, of course, but some do … and KU has had more of them than most people think.