THE MAG.COM PRESENTS:
ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

by Ted Bauer

WHEN IT COMES TO THE BEST UNDRAFTED FREE AGENTS IN NFL HISTORY, WE'RE KICKING OFF WITH ADAM VINATIERI

In the current issue of ESPN The Magazine, one of the feature subjects is Earnest Graham; the dude was an undrafted free agent for the Bucs in 2003 despite a stellar career at Florida. (Side note: want to see how to correlate print content with online content? Read Jordan Brenner's 'Settling the Score') Graham got us thinking: who are the most notable undrafted free agents in NFL history? There's actually a fairly sizeable list.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (4)	ADAM VINATIERI	Gets the top spot for two reasons: several of the best kickers were undrafted, so we're nodding to that. Also: the guy is unbelievably clutch. He was signed in '96 by the Patriots. Know where he went to college? Read down to Honorable Mention for the answer.
	2 (6)	KURT WARNER	He's a two-time NFL MVP, the 'bagging groceries' story is pretty high on the all-time sports journeys continuum, his wife is epic, and right now he's making Leinart somewhat reconsider his tomcat ways, we think. He was grabbed by the Rams in '98.
	3 (7)	ROD SMITH	Only undrafted player to have 10,000 receiving yards. Bonus: won two Super Bowls. Double bonus: been to three Pro Bowls.
	4 (9)	JOHN RANDLE	Went undrafted in 1990 out of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Finished his career with over 130 sacks. That's pretty sweet. Bonus: Brett Favre once said he's "virtually unblockable on artificial turf."
	5 (11)	PRIEST HOLMES	Amazing he went undrafted out of Texas, especially considering Ricky is kind of a train wreck now. In 2003, he was the all-time single-season TD record holder, before everyone and their mom started breaking that record. Bonus: cool name.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	8 (85)	ANTONIO GATES	It's mostly because he played basketball primarily in college. Still, he's probably the best current TE in football—if the Chargers get over the New England hump and win a Super Bowl, he could cement his legacy as one of the best TEs ever.
	136 (177)	JAKE DELHOMME	We're taking him over Romo because he's won playoff games. Bonus: would be really cool if he overcomes all his arm problems. Answer to Vinatieri question: South Dakota State!

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		TONY ROMO (Cool and all—we love his girlfriend!—but has zero postseason wins as of now.)
		WILLIE PARKER (We like him, for real. We just think drafted stud Rashard may usurp him someday.)

For more All-World Power Rankings, CLICK HERE

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine