IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys added more pieces in the hours and minutes following the conclusion of the 2014 NFL Draft than they did in the three days of the actual event.
No time can be wasted as teams attempt to sign priority undrafted prospects, and the quicker all the players can arrive, the better.
"It's really pretty interesting logistically…we didn't know who we drafted until two hours ago," head coach Jason Garrett said immediately after the draft. "Now we go through the process, what're the rules of the school, have you finished your exam, have you graduated, you guys on trimester system…We just felt like it's important to get those guys in here, if we can, to have three bonus days with them before we go into that minicamp next weekend."
First-round pick Zack Martin and fifth-round pick Devin Street were both at Valley Ranch on Monday. Garrett said fourth-round pick Anthony Hitchens had exams Monday and Tuesday and would arrive after those, while he expected second-round pick Demarcus Lawrence on Thursday.
"The benefit is simply getting in a meeting room," Garrett said. "We start there, introduce stuff to them, then on Tuesday and Thursday, they'll go out with our veteran players on the field, they'll get an orientation to our strength and conditioning program. These days are valuable. If you have time with them, 45 minutes in the morning, an hour and a half in the afternoon, a couple-three days, you can really learn a lot of football in a short period of time, and we feel like our rookie minicamp will be so much better as a result of that."
Garrett said with a week in between the draft and the rookie minicamp, players arriving early can be three or four days ahead of where they would be otherwise before taking the field. Coaches also get a better idea of where the player is at physically.
The conditioning of rookies generally pales in comparison to the veterans, who've been in the Cowboys' offseason program.
"That's something we've got to be really careful about, really on Tuesday when they go out with our veteran players," Garrett said. "Our veteran players have been here, and they're working out and they're in shape and they're in our program, so we feel like it's important to acclimate them to that, but we have to do it very carefully to make sure they're ready to handle the work." [embedded_ad]
The days leading into the rookie minicamp can be valuable. And while it may be unfair, coaches and personnel evaluators may be less inclined to bring in undrafted players with extenuating circumstances forcing them to arrive late.
"I think it impacts that, because it's always so tight," Garrett said. "There's usually a couple guys you're thinking about, and if the logistics are right with one guy and everything else is even, you'll probably take that guy. But for the most part, you're trying to take the best guys, and you can kind of work your way through some of those situations."
