BSN Exclusive: Meet the "pissed off" UDFA who is poised to benefit from Shane Ray's absence

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Rated as the No. 1 recruit coming out of Florida in high school. Second in the SEC in sacks (10) as a junior. Four forced fumbles. First-team All-SEC. Sports Illustrated All-American.

It was all setting up nicely for Jeff Holland to follow the classic path of a football stud in the South. You dominate high school, you go to a big-time SEC powerhouse, you produce, you get drafted.

It was set up so nicely, in fact, that Holland made the decision to forgo his senior season at the University of Auburn, he had done enough. Some analysts predicted him to go as high as the third round; all analysts predicted him to get selected at some point.

But when Southern Methodist wide receiver Trey Quinn was selected with the final pick of the 2018 draft, Holland’s phone was still as dry as a bone.

Un. Drafted.

But why?

“I have no idea,” a clearly-still-peeved Holland told BSN Denver on Thursday. “I was very pissed.”

Holland isn’t exactly a man of many words, but his play does a lot of talking. While he’s a bit undersized at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, he has a blazing first step and was an absolute menace for offensive tackles in the SEC. And when he gets in the backfield, it seems he almost always wreaks some sort of havoc.

“I know what type of player I am,” he said of his undrafted frustrations. “I know the goals I achieved in college—being a first-team All-American, having 10-plus sacks in the SEC. It’s a lot of stuff.”

Because of this, the Broncos—who were admittedly surprised by his availability—wasted no time in throwing a $15,000 signing bonus at the Auburn stud to come in as an undrafted free agent, tied for the most they gave to any UDFA.

“We had a draftable grade on him as an outside linebacker,” head coach Vance Joseph said at rookie mini camp. “It was really cool to get him signed.”

Holland, of course, was coming onto a team that was stacked at outside linebacker, with a first-round pick just having joined a room that already had three proven NFL players. Most conversations about him began with, “How are the Broncos going to find a roster spot for this guy?”

That was barely a month ago, yet it’s fair to say things have changed pretty drastically since then.

First, it was a season-ending injury to Deiontrez Mount, who found a bit of a role on special teams last year after being promoted from the practice squad in November. In total, Mount mounted 142 total snaps on “teams” during the latter part of the season. He would have been tough competition for Holland.

Next came the big blow. On Wednesday, news surfaced that former first-round pick Shane Ray would have to undergo yet another operation on his wrist, the fourth-such operation in the last year. The surgery is expected to hold the pass rusher out for somewhere around three months, and many reports have suggested he will likely miss at least one week of the season.

Suddenly, it looks like Jeff Holland is in a position to be the Denver Broncos’ fourth OLB heading into Week 1, with his only real competition for that spot—barring a speedy recovery for Ray—being a guy by the name of Marcus Rush, who went undrafted out of Michigan State in 2015.

“I’ve always said to myself, ‘When an opportunity comes, you have to take full advantage of it’ and that’s what I’m doing right now,” he said Thursday.

For Holland, who admits he “absolutely” has a chip on his shoulder and already refers to Von Miller as “my boy,” the narrative could quickly shift from “one to watch” to “one they need.” Suddenly, he could become an important piece on a pass-rush unit that figures to be one of the best in the league.

Just the way he drew it up.