Dukes NFL Hopefuls

As the NFL draft kicked off tonight, we thought we’d touch on this year’s small class of Dukes with realistic hopes of playing at the next level. With no disrespect intended towards any other JMU players that may be working their butts off, there really only appear to be two guys with a shot at being picked up by Sunday evening – QB Vad Lee and OL Dominick Richards. Neither player seems likely to actually be drafted, but as we say every year, being signed as an undrafted free agent (UFA) by a team with a need that actually wants to bring you in is WAY preferable to being snagged late by a team that may not have a spot. If you’re looking for examples you need only go back to last year when Dean Marlowe was signed as an UFA by the Panthers and went all the way to the Super Bowl and Daniel Brown was brought in by the Ravens and after bouncing around a bit, got a real shot late in the season when the depleted Ravens’ WR corps had a need for a guy that had learned the system back in camp. It’s also nice to know that Richards and Lee are two of the best all-around Dukes we’ve seen in years and will be just fine no matter what happens. Check out this article on Richards and this great piece by WHSV on Vad’s comeback from injury and hopes for this weekend and beyond:

http://www.whsv.com/content/sports/Vad-Lee-The-Comeback-377364911.html