With the conclusion of this week’s NFL Draft, a number of undrafted players began negotiations to sign with clubs as free agents, but University Of New Hampshire tight end Scott Sicko (above) wasn’t one of them. Deeply dissed by not being picked in the Draft’s 7 rounds (or perhaps deeply pissed at having to watch the exercise on TV for three days), Sicko’s tells The Times-Union’s Mark McGuire, “some people will think I™m absolutely out of mind, and I and understand it.”
Sicko™s reps at the Niskayuna-based National Sports Management gathered in a side room at Wolf™s 1-11 in front of a bank of TVs, fielding calls and scanning rosters. The Jacksonville Jaguars wanted the tight end as an undrafted priority free agent. So did the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys.
In some ways, that™s better than being drafted late, since the player can pick a team that offers the best chance of making a roster or at least practice squad.
A deal was in place as the seventh round wound down. JR Rickert, the founder and president of National Sports Management, cupped his hand over the phone and called over to fellow agent Ray Brownell.
œTell Scott he is a Cowboy if he is not drafted, Rickert said.
Brownell made the call to Sicko at his Stillwater home, where he was watching the draft with family and friends. Brownell looked dumbfounded by Sicko™s resonse:
If I™m not going to be drafted, Sicko told him, I™m not going to play.
œAs the seventh round started to get underway and progress, Sicko later said, œthat decision (to not play) became a very strong reality.
So when the Detroit Lions selected Weber State wide receiver Tim Toone with the 255th and final pick, Scott Sicko™s football career came to a close.
œHe would have been a Cowboy, Brownell said. œI™m certain he would have made the roster.
I guess bloggers won’t get a chance to pun the living daylights out of his last name. For shame.