When you're drafted or when you're signed?

[sluggermatt15]

I always looked at it that a team has a player's rights when they are drafted, but that player is technically not on the roster until they sign a contract, thus they cannot participate in practices, games, etc.

[Oszuscik]

I always looked at it that a team has a player's rights when they are drafted, but that player is technically not on the roster until they sign a contract, thus they cannot participate in practices, games, etc.

Basically, a team has dibs on the players they draft, put must still sign them to place them on the roster. I’m thinking it makes more sense to consider their signing date as when a player joins a team.

[JuggernautJ]

What if a player is drafted and signed but never plays a down for the team?
If he is injured or cut before he plays a down do you still consider him "on the team?"

Does it matter (to you) if he did or didn't play in the preseason?

[Oszuscik]

What if a player is drafted and signed but never plays a down for the team?
If he is injured or cut before he plays a down do you still consider him "on the team?"

Does it matter (to you) if he did or didn't play in the preseason?

I'm leaning towards considering a player officially "on the team" once he signs his contract. He may never play a down, but he WAS a member of the team. Take Kurt Warner in 1994 with the Packers. He was cut during the preseason, but he spent the offseason as a Green Bay Packer. I'd consider him a member of the team.

Where it got murky for me was the players who were drafted by a team but never signed with them. Nobody considers Bo Jackson to have ever been a Buccaneer, only drafted by them, so it seemed to me the "threshold" for joining a team would have to be once a contract is signed.

[CraigRye]

Isn't also the case that if a player does not sign after being drafted he automatically is eligible to be drafted the following year. For example The Dolphins draft Melvin Bratton the UM RB in the 6th round in 1988. They couldn't sign him and the following year Denver drafted him in the 7th round.

[sluggermatt15]

I think the answer to this question depends on the time and context of the individual being discussed.

This probably is currently the case:

Your rights go to that team immediately until and unless you are released, so that's another way to look at it.
You're not anything else once you're drafted. You're that team's property - from an NFL personnel/rights perspective - whether you sign or not.

However, there are times during which the above statement wouldn't apply.
For instance, during the existence of an alternate league (AFL, AAFC, etc.) it frequently happened that a player was drafted by more than one team.
The Saint Louis Cardinals drafted Joe Namath 12th overall in the 1965 NFL Draft. However, that draft wound up being not sufficient to "own" him as he signed with the AFL's Jets who also drafted Namath that year. When he did he became a member if that franchise.

Mac Speedie "belonged" to the Cleveland Browns but, much to Paul Brown's consternation, decided to play in Canada for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders after the 1952 season.

There are many, many examples one might sight but the point is that one's status vis a vie the draft is a fluid situation that changes with the time and conditions under which they were drafted.

Yeah, was John Elway ever a Colt?

No because he never signed a contract with Baltimore and he was never on their roster. Technically, an Elway Colts jersey would be inaccurate.

[Ronfitch]

What if a player is drafted and signed but never plays a down for the team?
If he is injured or cut before he plays a down do you still consider him "on the team?"

Does it matter (to you) if he did or didn't play in the preseason?

I'm leaning towards considering a player officially "on the team" once he signs his contract. He may never play a down, but he WAS a member of the team. Take Kurt Warner in 1994 with the Packers. He was cut during the preseason, but he spent the offseason as a Green Bay Packer. I'd consider him a member of the team.

In Jerry Poling’s book, “Downfield:Untold Stories of the Green Bay Packers” the final chapter is titled, “He Wasn’t a Packer: Robbie Bosco.”

Bosco was a second-team All America squad QB out of BYU and the third most accurate passer in NCAA history (behind two other BYU QBs, Jim McMahon and Steve Young) when Green Bay drafted him in the third round of the 1986 draft.

But shoulder issues that had started his senior year at BYU plagued him. He participated in his rookie season training camp and put on IR and in 1987 “wasn’t even close” according to him. In 1988, he tried again and went through training camp and played in one pre-season game.

But he was never on a regular or post-season game day roster, so does not appear on the Packers’ list of former players.

What constitutes being a Packer? Or an Eagle? Or a Be@r (hmmm … must be a keyboard issue)?

Lots of guys sgned contracts and never made a regular season game roster.