Oklahoma football: Where undrafted Sooners are going as free-agent prospects

Oklahoma football placed eight players in the 2019 NFL Draft, including the No. 1 overall pick in Kyler Murray. And there’s more…

That might not be the only Sooners off of last season’s roster who will have a chance to extend their football careers playing at the next level.

Players selected in the seven rounds of the NFL Draft have a built-in advantage in terms of their chances of making an NFL roster. That is not the only pathway, however, for a prospect to catch on in the National Football League.

Free agency is another option, and at least four former OU players we know of to this point will have an opportunity to make an NFL team by going that route.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

Multiple news outlets, including the Norman Transcript, are reporting that following the 2019 NFL Draft this past weekend, four former Sooners have signed free-agent contracts with four different teams:

The Green Bay Packers signed linebacker Curtis Bolton to a free-agent contract. Bolton’s 139 total tackles last season ranked 22nd nationally, and Pro Football Focus graded him as the third-best pass rusher among off-ball linebackers with at least 500 snaps in the 2018 season.

Defensive end Amani Bledsoe was picked up by the Tennessee Titans, and Carson Meier signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars (the Jags also have former Sooner wide receiver Dede Westbrook on the active roster). Running back Marcelias Sutton has joined the Seattle Seahawks as a free-agent signee.

Bledsoe played three seasons at OU and started all 14 games for the Sooners last season; he led the team with seven pass breakups.

Meier played the H-back, or fullback, position last season. The Jaguars reportedly are looking at the 6-foot, 4-inch, 254-pounder as a tight end prospect. He did catch 19 passes last season, fifth most on the OU team, for 327 yards and three touchdowns.

Sutton played just two seasons at OU, as a junior-college transfer, and his 2018 season was cut short by a broken leg six games into the season. He gained 282 rushing yards in two seasons and averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

While the chances of making an NFL roster as an undrafted free agent are less likely percentage-wise than a player who is drafted, it is far from an impossibility, as former Oklahoma defensive back Tony Jefferson can attest.

Jefferson played four years at Oklahoma and was named to the 2012 All-America Second Team by the Associated Press. He was not selected in the 2013 NFL Draft, however, and ended up signing with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent. Jefferson not only made the team, but played four seasons in Arizona. In 2017, the former OU star signed a four-year $34 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

Stay tuned…