Mark Herzlich waited and waited over the weekend to hear his name called at the NFL draft. That announcement never came. If he was on Twitter on Monday night, he'd know that another professional football league came calling.
The Omaha Nighthawks selected the former Boston College linebacker in the 10th round of the UFL draft — a draft that was conducted exclusively on Twitter. In fact, it was CNBC's sports reporter Darren Rovell who stepped in a as a guest picker to tweet the selection. Herzlich was the No. 51 selection in the 10-round draft.
Perhaps part of the reason that Herzlich wasn't taken until the 51st selection is based on the fact that he will still try to play in the NFL if and when the lockout is over. That seems to be his plan at least.
"When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was told I couldn't play football again," Herzlich told NESN.com's Jeff Howe on Monday. "Not getting drafted was frustrating. It's like they're saying I can't play football again, but I'm going to work out, and there's free agency. I'm just going to work hard, get into a camp, go from there and prove it to everyone that I belong in the NFL.
"But there will be free agency. In the past, free agency would have already started, and I'd probably be on a team right now. We'll wait to see how that goes."
With the NFL lockout still on, Herzlich has to wait until that is lifted before he can sign with any NFL team as an undrafted free agent.
