Eagles’ Cam Jurgens Calls Out NFL GMs for Protecting Draft Picks While Undrafted Players ‘Always Get Replaced’

As the 2026 NFL Draft approaches, hundreds of college football players are preparing for the moment their names might be called. Every year, NFL general managers invest significant resources and reputation into the players they select in the draft. But what about the players who enter the NFL without that backing? Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens recently called out the harsh business side of the NFL when it comes to undrafted players.

“It’s tough when you’re undrafted,” Cam Jurgens, who was selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, said last week on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “Like, when you’re undrafted, you’re fighting every year cuz like GMs, they draft somebody, they want him to work out, and then they want him to be good. So, you’re going to keep getting chances because you’re drafted and the GM wants to be like, ‘Yeah, I drafted that guy.’ Whereas, the undrafted guys, it’s like, you’re always getting replaced. It’s just such a political business.”

Once the NFL Draft wraps up, all 32 teams immediately begin signing undrafted free agents to fill out their rosters before training camps. Some of those undrafted players even earn roster spots and contribute during the NFL regular season. But Cam Jurgens just suggested that undrafted players still get fewer opportunities from GMs in an effort to protect their draft picks.

From an NFL GM’s perspective, draft picks represent scouting investments and public decisions that they want to justify. If a drafted player succeeds, Jurgens suggested that the GM would want to take credit for it. But if that’s the case, where does that leave undrafted players who are simply trying to prove that they belong in the NFL?

In the case of Cam Jurgens, he was drafted by the Eagles from Nebraska with the 51st overall pick in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. At the time, former Eagles center Jason Kelce reportedly helped the team’s general manager, Howie Roseman, identify Jurgens as a potential successor at his position. 

“You know, Kelce saw all the same things that we saw. We think Cam has got a chance to be a very special player in this offense,” Roseman told reporters after the Eagles drafted Jurgens. “And I said to Kelce, ‘You know, Jason, we have this unbelievable opportunity for a guy who is really talented to learn from the best who has ever done it here.’”

Roseman’s plan with Cam Jurgens seems to have worked out well for Philadelphia. Since entering the league, Jurgens has spent all four of his NFL seasons with the Eagles and has started 41 games despite the heavy physical toll of starting at center. Last year, the Eagles also rewarded Jurgens with a four-year, $68 million contract extension.

As such, Cam Jurgens’ opinion on undrafted players carries a perspective from a stable position. In what Jurgens described as a “political business,” undrafted players often don’t benefit from the same level of patience that the Eagles center experienced. If the undrafted players struggle early or if a new draft pick arrives at their position, they can quickly find themselves replaced in the NFL.

Interestingly, a CBS report last year cited research showing that undrafted players have become less prominent contributors across the NFL in recent seasons. According to TruMedia, 390 undrafted free agents logged at least 100 offensive snaps between the 2015 and 2024 seasons. But former NFL linebacker Will Compton has also revealed how statistics alone don’t capture the full reality of life as an undrafted player in the league.

 Will Compton shares his experience of being an undrafted NFL player

In 2013, Will Compton entered the league as an undrafted free agent after signing a three-year, $1.48 million contract with the Washington Redskins. Just like Jurgens, he, too, came out of Nebraska. Compton then had to fight simply to earn playing time, but he could only play one game that year. Over the next two seasons, however, Compton played every game in Washington and tallied 156 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, one interception, and four quarterback hits. With that level of consistency, Compton expected to earn an extension deal in Washington, but things did not turn out as he expected. 

“When I got my three credited seasons, my contract was up because I was undrafted,” Will Compton recalled on the same episode of Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “So, I only had like a three-year deal. And I was technically, in the business terms, like an exclusive rights free agent. And I’m thinking that I got voted captain, I played a lot, and like, I’ve started the entire year, or I played a lot this year. Like, I’m going to be the guy going into next year.”

“Like, surely we’ll probably do like a two or three-year deal, and they’ll kind of like reward you. And then you kind of just learn, no, you’re on an exclusive rights deal. Like, essentially, you sign this contract, or you just don’t. You’re not going to play for anybody else.”

Instead of receiving a long-term contract, Washington extended a tender offer to Compton following the 2015 season, making him an exclusive rights free agent. In 2017, Washington again chose to re-sign Compton under a restricted free agent tender rather than offering a multi-year deal. After that 2017 season, Compton left Washington and spent the remainder of his career bouncing between several NFL teams on short-term deals.

For four seasons, Will Compton joined practice squads, signed brief contracts, and occasionally faced releases as NFL teams replaced him with other players on their rosters. So, in 2023, Compton finally announced his retirement from the NFL and wrapped up an experience marred by instability as an undrafted player.

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