Most undrafted players signing up for an NFL training camp don’t make it.
Joe Jacoby was undrafted in the class of 1981. Jacoby might still be voted into the Hall of Fame someday.
How about this current Commanders team? Did you know linebacker Frankie Luvu played at Washington State but went undrafted?
Yes, sometimes those undrafted players are driven. Their discipline carries them to places the experts felt they would never reach.
Luvu was signed by the Jets, undrafted in 2018. If that’s not enough, He was waived, then re-signed to the Jets practice squad and the active roster. Following the 2018 season, the Jets re-signed Luvu to another one-year deal, then once again waived him. But he played well enough in 2019 to get another one-year deal.
In 2020, the Jets offered a third consecutive one-year contract. Yet, when the season ended, the Jets did not offer Luvu a deal for a fourth season.
The Panthers signed him to a (you guessed it) one-year deal for 2021. Finally, the next season, Luvu was offered a two-year deal, playing again for the Panthers in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Enter Adam Peters and the Commanders. Peters offered Luvu a three-year deal to the 27-year-old veteran linebacker. Luvu is glad to be in Washington.
Luvu spoke Thursday with the media about the veterans really holding each other to a standard on the practice field. He feels like he and fellow linebacker Bobby Wagner are already communicating very well together.
Luvu likes what he sees from linebacker Jordan Magee a fifth-round choice (Temple). “He is picking it up real quick. He’s coming on a long way real quick, for a rookie. (He is) taking everything in early in camp. He’s just been a sponge, trying to pick our minds, me and Bobby. Looking forward to work with him the rest of the camp.”
Luvu has had to work for each contract. Nothing has come easy. He could be just what Jordan Magee needs to learn as a linebacker and a rookie trying to make it long-term in the NFL.
