No one was willing to take a chance on picking wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers, but it didn’t take him long after the draft to find a home, signing with the Bills.
The one-time teammate of Cordarrelle Patterson (first round, Vikings) and Justin Hunter (second round, Titans) at Tennessee, he was kicked out last August after failing multiple drug tests, and finished up at Tennessee Tech.
“He’s the most polished of those three Tennessee receivers in my opinion in terms of route running and all that,” Bills scout Tom Roth said, via the team’s official website. “He reminds me physically of Eric Moulds, that body type. That’s what I thought when I saw him. A big, physical, muscular guy. Explosive. He had a 39-inch vertical. He ran a 4.48 at the Combine. He’s got all the physical stuff.”
As a sophomore in 2011, Rogers was All-SEC, catching 67 passes for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns. But for whatever reason, the off-field concerns were significant enough to cause him to slide beyond the draft, in a way that didn’t impact Tyrann Mathieu’s status, despite a similar storyline.
If the problems are behind him, they might have found a steal. If not, he’ll be discarded with most of the rest of the slappies who are signed after the draft, wasting a promising talent.