Tony Jones Jr. didn’t exactly arrive to the NFL out of obscurity.
The young New Orleans Saints running back played on national television most weeks in the Notre Dame backfield alongside current teammate Ian Book. But despite rolling up nearly 1,000 yards and seven TDs in his senior season, he watched seven NFL draft rounds come and go without hearing his name called.
It was a disappointment but not a problem, he said. That just meant he’d have to take the "back door route,” a concept teammate Cam Jordan — a first-round pick himself — pressed his young teammate to elaborate on.
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“When you get drafted, they let you in the league. … When you’re undrafted you gotta come through the back door,” Jones said with a grin, but giving off the impression he'd put some prior thought into his answer.
"You’ve got to make your way through the side gates. You’ve got to make it through security.”
As Jordan accurately summarized: Jones’ story is the “proverbial ‘get it out the mud’ situation.”
And as Jones looks toward a massive opportunity in his second NFL season, he's just one of the many Saints UDFAs who have not only carved out a role but has been starring in it. That occurred despite the Saints' final preseason game getting called off due to Hurricane Ida and costing those players one last audition. It was veteran running back Devonta Freeman was was cut at the 53-man roster deadline, and more recently Latavius Murray who was released as the team made room for two new cornerbacks.
The strong and sneaky-quick back was the darling of the preseason's Week 1 when he broke several big runs, including a highlight-reel touchdown on a drive where he accounted for 63 yards on three carries. It was reported that Saints coach Sean Payton was considering him as the RB2 ahead of Murray, a sentiment that was confirmed with the veteran's departure just days before the Saints host the Green Bay Packers in Jacksonville.
"It’s a credit to Tony," Payton said. "He kind of battled and earned that No. 2 spot."
But he's not alone. After converting to tight end this offseason, UDFA Juwan Johnson easily led his position group with 83 receiving yards on three impressive receptions.
In Week 2 it was Marquez Callaway, yet another second-year UDFA, that stole the spotlight with his 5-catch, 104-yard and two-touchdown performance.
Oh, and the Saints' other two preseason touchdown catches have gone to Lil'Jordan Humphrey, a UDFA entering his third season. The 6-foot-4 wide receiver's jump ball touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars was tossed his way by Taysom Hill who -- you might be sensing a trend -- is also a UDFA.
It almost feels like old news at this point, but All-Pro returner and wide receiver Deonte Harris was one of the best UDFA agent finds in years when the Saints signed him out of Division-II Assumption College.
The current Saints roster features nine players at WR, but Michael Thomas and Tre'quan Smith -- 2nd- and 3rd-round draft selections -- didn't play a snap in the preseason. Thomas will be out at least six weeks to start the year. The lone drafted receiver to catch a pass in the exhibition games was Ty Montgomery, whom the Packers selected in the third round of the 2015 draft before converting him to running back. Recently signed Kevin White was the No. 7 pick in that same draft, while rookie Kawaan Baker was a 7th-round pick in the most recent draft, both have landed on the Saints practice squad. Veteran Chris Hogan, who was cut at the deadline but resigned days later, also went undrafted. And, of course, that's just the offense.
The UDFA path has allowed those players to have some control over where they started their careers, but also meant a lot more legwork aimed at improving their long odds of making a final roster. For Johnson that work included bulking up to transition from his wide receiver role from last year, something he's embraced along the way.
"Coming in here we have, I guess you would say, a chip on our shoulders, knowing that we have to come in here, we have to grind to get a spot," he said. "Whether that’s special teams, doing extra work. A lot of guys don’t have to do as much as we have to do. We have to do everything right to make a roster, everything right to make an impression."
That roster build also means those highly skilled players might be flying under the radar, as it appears the case was for Callaway before he erupted on national television earlier this week. While fantasy team owners, football analysts and likely the Saints' opponents were made to sit up and take notice, it's not a surprise to his coaches.
"We've seen his growth right in front of our eyes," coach Sean Payton said. "Last weekend for a lot of people was like their first exposure. But if you had been really looking closely it had already begun to happen."
While waxing poetic about the Saints' effective diamond-hunting in the undrafted pool, it's important to note they have been highly successful with their draft picks, too. That's especially true outside of the first round, where they've uncovered stars in running back Alvin Kamara (3rd round), wide receiver Michael Thomas (2nd round), center Erik McCoy (2nd round) and left tackle Terron Armstead (3rd round). The other three starters along the offensive line were 1st-round selections, as was star cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Quarterback Jameis Winston was a No. 1 overall pick.
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But the team makes sure to take full advantage of their opportunities, particularly in the 2020 draft when they shipped out the entire second-half of their draft board to trade into the third round. In doing so they freed up Day 3 to spend focusing on the UDFA crop. It's pretty clear that move has paid off, with six players from that group still on the Saints' current roster.
Along with Callaway, Johnson and Jones, that group includes starting punter Blake Gillikin, OL Calvin Throckmorton and DT Malcolm Roach. This year UDFAs accounted for 54% of the team's total yardage over the two preseason games. While the team has always been adept at identifying hidden gems after the draft -- it still marks an impressive achievement. Through four games in the 2015 preseason, that mark was at 43%.
The Saints didn't initially uncover Hill, claiming him off waivers in 2017 when he was cut by the Packers. But the quarterback helped distill exactly what's made Callaway after his big night against the Jaguars.
"I think that there are special dudes. I think that Marquez is one of those guys that’s really talented. He knows he’s good. And the more opportunity you give him, the more he thrives," Hill said. "I didn’t watch him play a ton in college, I suspect that’s what he did there, too. It just feels like there’s not an opportunity that’s too big for him, there’s not a situation that’s too big for him. You create it for him and he steps up."
But stepping up isn't always quite enough, as Jones and Johnson learned last year when they were left off the initial roster. Johnson called back to the Saints games he and Jones spent watching from a skybox as members of the practice squad, knowing all the while they could be out on the field contributing to winning football. Both got opportunities later in the season, but the motivation was clear.
"Having that call the last [week of] cuts was kind of a heartbreaker," he said, "but that’s kind of left me with ‘all right, I don’t want to have this feeling again.’ "
That foursome of Jones, Johnson, Callaway and Humphrey had nothing to worry about, in the end, all landing on the initial 53-man roster for the first time in their careers. Each will have a chance to make their mark starting this Sunday in Jacksonville, a product of opportunity but driven by work and preparation.
Again, as Jordan put it so well: The proverbial, "get it out the mud" situation.
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