Through seven rounds of NFL draft picks, there weren’t any Rainbow Warriors who heard their names called over the past three days. But that doesn’t mean none has a chance to live out their NFL dreams.
A pair of University of Hawaii football players were signed to free agent contracts Saturday, with Dejon Allen joining the Chicago Bears and Trayvon Henderson signing with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Oftentimes, going undrafted can actually be a better situation for a fringe NFL player, rather than being selected in the sixth or seventh round. It leaves the player open to assess all options and they may receive calls from multiple teams immediately following the draft. It can give the player more control and possibly choose their destination, rather than having their rights determined by one team.
Allen is an interesting prospect for Chicago, which did use their second-round pick on center James Daniels out of Iowa. It was a position the Bears needed to address and did so early on. But Allen provides another really good athlete that Chicago could end up keeping for flexibility. His size is underwhelming as far as NFL centers go, but he could also transition to playing guard at the next level. So having the ability to play multiple positions on the offensive line makes him enticing to teams.
Allen seems like a guy who will be given every opportunity to prove himself to an NFL squad. He comes with no red flags and has been a leader for Hawaii in this Nick Rolovich era. I can see a lot of teams wanting to at least have him on their practice squads to see how he may fit or develop.
For Henderson, he has a nice connection in Cincinnati already. The Bengals brought in Daronte Jones in January to coach the secondary. Jones was the secondary coach at UH when Henderson was recruited to the program, so the two have a history and obviously a good relationship. Henderson was a starter for the majority of his Hawaii tenure and finished with nine career interceptions.
The Bengals had a lot of picks in this draft, coming out of it with 11 players. Three of those were in the secondary, so Henderson seems to be a long shot to end up making this Cincinnati team. His best shot would be as a special-teams standout, but Henderson’s college career showed a lot of unrealized potential. He was an impact player right from the start and had a nose for the football. It’s just incredibly difficult for secondary players to go undrafted and make a team because so much is expected of the top prospects at that position.
We’ll see if either ends up in an NFL uniform. Allen seems like the better bet because of his versatility and athleticism at an in-demand position. With the Bears in a full rebuild, there’s a good chance they’ll try to keep him around as long as possible. If not, other teams will be ready to snag him for the practice squad and he could emerge on any number of rosters in the years to come.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
Psst…Gavino?