Finding out you made a team's 53-man roster is a sentence countless football players dream of hearing, but only something a select few actually get to. And when you're an undrafted free agent fighting for your life in the preseason, that phrase makes all of the grit and determination worth it.
Every year, teams have an undrafted rookie who makes roster decisions more difficult, and for the Dallas Cowboys, it was wide receiver Camden Brown, who had a dynamite training camp followed by a great preseason.
After leading the Cowboys and finishing second in the NFL in receiving yards this preseason, it was enough for Brown to make the Cowboys' initial 53-man roster over seventh-round pick Anthony Smith.
However, his journey to making Dallas' roster was anything but conventional. Brown revealed to the media on Monday that his stomach was in knots on Sunday waiting for a phone call... but it never came, and he learned that he was making the roster when Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telgram shared it on social media.
“I realized it off your tweet [of the roster]," Brown said. "Everyone sent it to me. I was like, ‘Why the hell everybody calling me?’ I feel like it’s a dream come true, for real.
What I’ve realized is the job is not over, so you got to keep putting your best foot forward every day. Wake up with a sense of gratitude every single day and know why you’re here. That’s how I’m approaching it, and I’m grateful, for real.”
Camden Brown learned he made the Cowboys' roster through social media
To be frank, that is a pretty funny (and stress-inducing) way to receive life-changing news. It's the news Brown was obviously waiting for, but I bet he was hoping to hear it under better pretenses.
But given social media helps news spread like wildfire, at least Brown's friends and family let him know so he could get wind of the news in a timely manner.
This isn't on Schottenheimer when the Cowboys were likely more focused on calling the players who didn't make the roster as opposed to the ones who did.
Having said that, it's pretty funny they unintentionally turned what should've been the happiest day of his life into one of the most stressful. I guess that's what roster cutdown weekend is all about.
The 22-year-old has good size at 6-foot-2 and has shown flashes of developing into a reliable deep threat, which was enough for the Cowboys to take a chance on him on the initial 53.
Of course, making a one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone while displaying elite body control to stay in bounds is one way for a small-school receiver like Brown to make a lasting impression. That grab was just a continuation of what Brown showed all summer.
Typically, a phone call is what players get to learn their NFL dreams are coming true, but Camden Brown is anything but your typical player, which became abundantly clear this summer.
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