Undrafted Free Agents: DeAndre McDaniel Picks New Orleans Saints

Many draft gurus, like Mocking The Draft, considered McDaniel to be a third- or even second-round talent before the draft, but he somehow went seven rounds without being picked. A wrist injury might have caused some teams to sleep on McDaniel.

“They felt like I was going to need surgery and miss (2011),” McDaniel said. “I got it checked at the combine, but when I went back for a recheck the weekend of (Clemson’s) spring game, everyone was seeing that it was still fractured.”

McDaniel’s mediocre 4.6-second 40-yard dash also might not have helped, and then there’s the fact that he was arrested for aggravated assault and battery a few years back. But based on some of the glowing scouting reports he gets, it sounds like the Saints might have gotten a real bargain here, given his instincts and on-field leadership skills.

For more on the Saints, check out Canal Street Chronicles.