If a scout sticks his neck out for an UFA, over a 5th round draft pick... and the 5th round draft pick excels elsewhere, that probably won't look good.

I guess possession receivers catch everything thrown their way. O'Brien had a gun, Merrill was a beast.

Could he eventually try the CFL?

Nephew had (has) NFL size and skill. Real smart kid who played at Oregon state. I asked him why he didn’t chase the NFL. He said he had other plans, but one necessity according to him was that NFL prospects need to hire a conditioning trainer and coach to go into camp in top shape and form.

I've always felt that Doss would probably could probably have a stable career in the CFL rather than getting signed and released every year in the NFL. Who knows though, he make make more money bouncing around the NFL versus making the team and actually playing in the CFL.

Average CFL salaries reportedly 60 - 100k, plus subsidized housing.

Akari Jones did alright in the CFL financially

Here is the list for the NY Giants --WR: (7): Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Kadarius Toney, Wan'Dale Robinson, Richie James, David Sills

Hard to believe a guy that was that dominant for us can't seem to make the NFL. — 88Aggie

He's going from a big fish in a smaller pond to a small fish in a large pond.

Think about it this way. Lets say every team has 8 WRs. There are 32 teams so that's 256 total WRs in the NFL. I know there's practice squad and dudes get hurt but we'll stick with 256. Some of these guys are done after a year or two but plenty stick around for a while. This isn't college where the roster completely turns over every 4-5 years. So there aren't that many jobs open each year. Now let's look at college. There are 124 FBS teams. Lets say for the sake of it that you have 8 WRs per team. It might be more what whatever. The exact numbers don't matter. That's almost 1000 WR's in FBS at any one time. Factoring in redshirt year, lets say 1/5 of those graduate each year so 200. It's probably more since the guys at the top generally aren't staying 4 or 5 years. Obviously they're not all trying to go pro but a lot are. How many open WR positions are there each year? Less than half almost certainly. Is it 1/4? Well that's only 64 spots.

So unless you're highly drafted, there's a couple factors that come into play. Luck is the biggest one. Mainly, do you get the chance to prove yourself. Maybe you go somewhere and a couple guys in front of you get hurt and you perform. Maybe you get lucky and go to the right team where a position coach sees something and makes some sort of tweak that takes you up a level and helps you break through.

At the pro level, all of these dudes are super talented. Different sport but have you heard of Brian Scalabrine? Played 11 years in the NBA and averaged 3.1 ppg for his career and retired in 2012. He told a story about how guys like to challenge him to play 1v1 when he's at the gym because they think they can beat an NBA player. He pretty regularly smokes them because, well, he played in the NBA and they didn't. He said one time a guy was trash talking him and he responded with "I'm closer to being LeBron James than you are to me". It's both an amazing line and true. We see some guy who doesn't play much and think "well he's not that great because he's not playing" when the reality is, he's still really good.

It's tough for Doss because the dude is a stud. But so is every other receiver in the NFL.

Let's say at least half of NFL WRs are proven performers. He's not taking their spot. It might be three quarters are proven performers.

He's most often competing with drafted players from top IA programs. Will you take an UFA over a 5th round pick from Notre Dame or Florida? Reputations come into play for managers, scouts. If a Florida draft pick busts, that's one thing. Imagine if your UFA is a bust, and you released a Florida draft pick, and he goes on to contribute somewhere else. It might look bad.

As I stated the NFL is a billion dollar business. The cream rises in the league; make plays to show your worth. Important practices are filmed and studied, and next generation stats are used all over the league for games and practices. The NFL has Doss as currently a marginal player and will have an up-hill fight to produce and be on a team.

Doss was a great Aggie and our teams won because of his ability. We should be thankful for his time at UCD!

The Calgary Stampeders have announced that Keelan Doss is on their negotiation list.

“CFL by-laws state that teams can claim exclusive CFL rights for up to 45 players by placing them on their negotiation lists. Players can be added, removed or traded from the lists at any time.”

https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/pr-cfl-teams-unveil-ten-players-from-fall-negotiation-lists-bc-lions-list-only-qbs/

Wouldn't it be great to see Maier tossing the rock to Doss again!

Yes It would. After all the effort not to really make it the NFL, perhaps the CFL will be a great place to play.

Calgary eyes Keelan Doss.

https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/cfl-teams-unveil-ten-players-from-fall-negotiation-lists/

NYG dealing with major injuries at WR. Wish he could have even made the PS so he’d have a chance right now.

Is this Doss to Calgary thing going to bear fruit? KD needs to be playing

Doss signs with the Chargers

Sweet!

Cool--I see way more Charger games and would love to see him play!

Good for Keelan....but don't rush out and buy tickets expecting to see him play. He was signed to the practice squad.
https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/2022/10/05/chargers-news-keelan-doss-practice-squad/

Hope this time is the charm.

I know former Torero WR Michael Bandy made the team in Los Angeles. Guy was good, had good games against Davis.

https://www.chargers.com/team/players-roster/michael-bandy/

Doss joins RB and former Aggie Joshua Kelley.

While we were busy elsewhere Keelan was elevated to the Chargers' active roster....

https://www.chargers.com/news/los-angeles-chargers-sign-keelan-doss-active-roster

Also joins Hornets alum DeAndre Carter

Carter is pretty good as anyone who saw him yesterday against the 49ers can attest. I'm afraid that Doss is never going to make it in the NFL. I know we've all been rooting for him, but the Chargers are his third team and there are 6 guys ahead of him on the depth chart.

Does waived. If he couldn’t get playing time with the injury problems for both the giants and now the chargers, I’m afraid that my hopes here are over :(

I wonder what it was but many teams have obviously seen the same thing…

Time to try out for USFL or buy some long johns and head to Canada.

Apparently the Chargers then re-signed Doss to the practice squad.

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/keelan-doss-returns-to-chargers-practice-squad/

https://www.chargers.com/team/players-roster/keelan-doss/

Doss will have to compete with two TCU WR draft picks, one a 1st round pick, the second a 5' 8 3/4" speedster. The second pick: Darius Davis has a 4.36 40 time, and allegedly was the only college or pro player to break 23 mph on a YAC reception. Won a CFB special team's award.

"Keelan Doss signed a 1 year, $825,000 contract with the Los Angeles Chargers, including an average annual salary of $825,000. In 2023, Doss will earn a base salary of $940,000, while carrying a cap hit of $940,000."

I hope he’s being smart with his money while he’s making it.

I see that Doss has landed with the LA Chargers this coming season.