The Undrafted “Next Level Rams": Who has best chance to make an NFL roster?

In order to move up to the next level, former Colorado State Rams players had to be either drafted, signed to a deal or invited to a workout. In total, nine players who wore the green and gold last year have moved up and into the NFL.

We’ve covered all the most recent undrafted signings of the draft-eligible former Rams, a group that’s now made up of DeAndre Elliott, Kivon Cartwright, Sam Carlson, Jason Oden, Joe Hansley, Terry Jackson and Martavius Foster. Of that group of seven players, there’re three who have a real shot at making it onto their teams in time, those being DeAndre Elliott with the Seattle Seahawks, Kivon Cartwright in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers and Joe Hansley with the Oakland Raiders. These young men being our picks shouldn’t come as a surprise as Cartwright and Elliott were the first two players to sign with teams. Hansley has the added advantage of being able to play on special teams and has a connection with the coaching staff dating back to his high school days (more on that later). It should be pointed out that much like other former CSU undrafted standouts, the most likely route for each of these players is to stick onto a practice squad roster, be developed for a season and hope to get a chance in Year Two or Year Three like Shaq Barrett or Kapri Bibbs before them.

Cartwright has the best chance of all the undrafted Next Level Rams, as far as making it onto the roster this year. He has both the skills as a receiving tight end and there’s enough room on the depth chart for him. Remember, Cartwright was coming off an injury in 2015 and hasn’t been his true self on the field since 2013, if he can get back to being a bit more explosive, there’s some potential there. Tampa’s starting tight end is the talented Austin Seferian-Jenkins and there’s no getting away from that, but the depth behind him is lacking in quality.

The most established player is 30-year old veteran Brandon Myers. Cartwright is less of a typical in-line blocker than any other player at the position on the Bucs roster, but he does, however, present some uniqueness as he can be used in more of an H-back type role. That might be more appealing than just having a bunch of in-line tight ends. Dirk Kotter’s offense likes to spread out receivers in four-wide type sets, as a tight end in motion or even out the backfield, Cartwright could be an added wrinkle to these formations. The Buccaneers drafted only six position players in this draft, meaning there’s a bit more room for undrafted players than say in Denver or Seattle. The bad news is that Tampa also drafted a full back in Dan Vitale of Northwestern and will likely not carry more than four tight ends and fullbacks combined, limiting spots on the 53 man roster.

Elliott is going to have a harder time than his offensive teammate due to the depth that Seattle has at defensive back. However there isn’t a better team, defensive staff or scheme to highlight Elliott’s skill set as a long, explosive, and competitive corner. While Seattle has lots of depth at DB, outside of Richard Sherman, there isn’t another legitimate starter in the bunch. The former Ram getting signed so early is also a promising sign that the Seahawks see some development in him. Seattle isn’t only very deep at the position but also has a decent amount of young players who, much like DeAndre, fit their scheme. There are as many as eight corners on the depth chart ahead of Elliot in just the backup roles, so he’ll have a steep mountain to climb. The beauty of being on a practice squad and playing well is that even if the team that developed you doesn’t have the roster space there’s still a chance with other depth needy teams.

As we talked about in his scouting report, Hansley can be a special teams ace in the return game, thanks to his short area quickness and jack rabbit like ability to make jump cuts. He’s also extremely talented in stopping and starting on a dime while hitting full speed rapidly. These are all skills that make him a successful slot receiver as well, which is a position where Oakland is a bit lacking in depth.

The Raiders have struggled to find a reliable punt returner, even having to throw in young star receiver Amari Cooper when injuries added up. While Taiwan Jones has been productive when healthy, on kick returns, the Raiders were 28th in the league last season on punt returns with an average of 6.5 yards per. The starting punt returner on the depth chart is slot corner Travis Carrie, who isn’t a specialist. The opportunity is certainly there.

While initially it might have come as a surprise to see the undersized Hansley get signed before other more acclaimed teammates like Kevin Pierre-Louis and Trent Matthews, it does make sense given Joe’s special team impact and no team knows what Hansley is capable of on special teams better than the Raiders. As my colleague Justin Michael explained, the Raiders coaching staff knows Hansley better than any other team in the league and have a history with him dating back to his high school days at Highlands Ranch.

As Justin said, “Their [Oakland’s] coaching staff is really familiar with Hansley. Valor Christian’s former head coach [Brent Vieselmeyer] is now a Raiders linebackers assistant, and when Del Rio’s son [Luke] was at Valor they played against Hansley at Highlands Ranch.” Hansley was a do-it-all phenom at Highlands Ranch, receiving the 2011 Gatorade and Scout.com Player of the Year awards for the state of Colorado. You don’t forget a player like him, clearly Vieselmeyer and De Rio haven’t. As a special teams player, Hansley was a monster in high school and turned things up this season as a Ram, returning two crucial punts for touchdowns against Fresno State while averaging over 12 yards per punt return on only 21 returns.

The opportunities are there, especially for Cartwright and Hansley, while Elliott has everything necessary to develop into a “Legion of Boom” type corner. Now it’s just a matter of leaving a mark in rookie mini-camps. Hopefully, that leads to getting some playing time during the preseason and after that, who knows? One certainty is that we’ll be following them every step of the way here at BSN.