Why Undrafted?: Jeff Holland, DE/OLB, Auburn
By Charlie Campbell, @draftcampbell
Four years ago, we started a series of articles on why certain prospects went undrafted. In that series, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. We got a lot of positive reader feedback about the series, so we decided to expand in the genre to investigate why some prospects slid in the draft. Three years ago, we started the Why the Slide? series, and this year it is back. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.
Auburn came close to making the college football playoff with a late-season surge that saw the team beat both Georgia and Alabama. Holland was the player with the biggest presence for the Tigers’ pass rush, putting together a breakout year. On the season, Holland collected 45 tackles with 13 tackles for a loss, 10 sacks, four forced fumbles and a pass batted. He made some clutch sacks for Auburn in their late season wins. Holland then entered the 2018 NFL Draft and was viewed as having mid-round potential. Thus, it was a surprise when he fell to the undrafted ranks.
Sources from four different teams weighed in, independently, on Holland and why he went undrafted. The first issue that was mentioned by three of the four teams was a perception that Holland possesses a lackluster work ethic. They said the character evaluation was marginal as well. Another issue that was brought up by multiple teams was that Holland was a limited athlete, who is stiff and obviously undersized at 6-foot-2, 249 pounds. A few sources felt Holland had a bad body and noted that he was a only a 1-year producer in college. All of those reasons combined to cause Holland to go undrafted.
After going undrafted, Holland signed with the Denver Broncos. That is a mixed landing spot for him. On the plus side, the Broncos are well coached and have excellent edge-rushing talents to draw blocking attention away from a player like Holland, if he can get on the field. However, Denver is loaded with edge rushers after taking Bradley Chubb in the first round. Von Miller is entrenched across from Chubb, while Shane Ray and 2017 second-round pick Demarcus Walker will also figure into pass rushing reps. There are other experienced players ahead of Holland as well. His best hope might be to earn a spot on the practice squad. He must work hard to develop his body and prove to the coaching staff that the work-ethic issues are in the past. If Holland impresses on the practice squad, he could work himself onto the roster in the future. However if Holland doesn’t fix the work ethic issues, he probably won’t have much of a NFL career.
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