Every year, NFL clubs spend several thousands of dollars looking to find the right players to build their teams. The cornerstone of this process, of course, remains the NFL draft, in which teams acquire young talent to mold into players to fit their systems.
Then you have the free agency period where players who are thought to be a good it are brought in to fill holes or perhaps provide “instant fixes” at positions where a team feels the draft might be lacking.
Clearly, the draft and free agency are exciting times for fans of a NFL team. But there is a third part of building a NFL team that isn’t as exciting or as glamorous and which rarely draws any press at all except when a team is successful.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the NFL waiver system.
Teams place players on waivers for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s due to their realizing that a player isn’t as good a fit for the system as the team initially thought. Other times it’s a matter of a new coach coming on board and wanting to rid himself of any reminders from the previous regime.
Still others it’s a matter of realizing that a player is emotionally spent due to injuries or some other recurring misfortune and the decision to waive him is more of a “mercy” type of move than anything else. Or, it could be that a team has to sacrifice a player at a position to accommodate another area lacking due to injury.
Whatever the scenario, the key to being successful with the waiver wire is to not take a “buyer beware” attitude, but rather, to do one’s due diligence in making the right choices for the team. And that’s been a strength the Giants, under GM Jerry Reese and Director of Pro Personnel Dave Gettleman. They are always watching the waiver wire, updating database regarding a potential prospect’s injury history, and staying in touch with head coach Tom Coughlin regarding what he feels the team needs to be competitive. When there’s a tough decision to be made, Reese isn’t afraid to authorize it if it means it will keep his team on the competitive edge.
Still, he acknowledges that the waiver system is often a mater of fortune. “Lots of times you just get lucky with respect to the waiver wire,” said Reese. “Lots of times teams have injuries and have to make roster moves and end up cutting a player that they really like while some guys get cut because they just don’t fit the scheme but might fit your scheme a little better.”
The Giants in particular have been a team that has had solid success in picking up guys off the waiver wire – offensive lineman Kevin Boothe, for example, was awarded to them in 2007 after Oakland gave up on him, and is usually the first guy off the bench when an injury occurs. More recently, they acquired RB Gartrell Johnson, a rookie that was let go by San Diego, and safety Aaron Rouse, formerly with Green Bay, acquired two weeks ago.
However the two most notable waiver wire acquisitions, receiver Domenik Hixon and fullback Madison Hedgecock, are perhaps more recognizable to Giants fans thanks to their respective contributions as starting players on offense.
Understanding the NFL Waiver System.
According to the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the waiver system is a procedure by which player contracts or “NFL rights” to players are made available by a club to other clubs in the League.
When a player is placed on waiver, the team holding the rights offers the contract to any of the 31 clubs, who either put in a claim for the contract or pass, or “waive” their right to the player’s services. The selection process during the season is based on the inverse of won-and-lost standing of that week, similar to the formula used to determine the NFL draft order.
Between July 4 and the conclusion of the regular season, the waiver system takes 24 hours to complete, whereas in the off-season, it’s 72 hours.
If all 31 teams pass on a player’s rights, his contract is officially terminated, and he becomes an unrestricted free agent regardless of the number of accrued seasons he has. However, if he’s picked up by a new team, his original contract details carries over to the team acquiring his rights; the exception being the signing bonus, which is the responsibility of the team that originally held the player’s rights.
All waivers are no recall and no withdrawal, meaning a team cannot change its mind once it makes its decision.
Further, if a team claims a player off waivers, the team releasing his rights is not entitled to any form of compensation, as is the case in free agency when a restricted free agent is signed to an offer sheet.
In terms of who is eligible for the waiver system, the CBA (Article XXII, Section 1) states that only players who, from the beginning of the waiver system each year (July 4) through the trading deadline (mid-October) who have less than four years of pension credit are eligible for the system.
Players with more than four years of playing time who are no longer needed by their teams have their contracts “terminated” as opposed to being placed on waivers. That is the difference between a player being ‘waived” versus having his contract “terminated.”
However, after the NFL trading deadline passes – this year October 20 is the trading deadline -- all players, regardless of accrued seasons, become subject to the waiver system.
When a player is placed on waivers, NFL teams will make payments on any rentals or temporary housing the player has in their city and will also reimburse the player for his moving expenses. Beyond that, though, once a player has been let go, unless it’s for injury reasons, the former team no longer has anything to do with that player from an administrative standpoint.
Domenik Hixon: A Fresh Start.
When Denver picked receiver Domenik Hixon in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft, they had high hopes for the receiver out of Akron. However, Hixon’s NFL career got off to a rocky start as he was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list on August 29 of his rookie season with a left foot injury he suffered while preparing for the draft and ended up having his entire rookie campaign wiped out because of the injury.
Refreshed, rehabbed, and ready to come back strong in 2007, Hixon played in four games for Denver, where he had no receptions but contributed on special teams as a coverage man and as a kick returner. As fate would have it though, when Hixon finally made a name for himself, it wasn’t as a football player; it was as the player who was involved in a violent collision in which then Buffalo Bills special teamer Kevin Everett suffered a fractured spine.
Understandably, Hixon was emotionally shaken by the misfortunes of that fateful day, so much so that there was reportedly concern in Denver that he might never recover that “edge” all football players need to be competitive again. As such, the Broncos cut their ties with Hixon less than a month later by placing him on the waiver wire.
Hixon had heard about the waiver wire before, through conversations with teammates in Denver. But despite all that happened leading up to his termination by Denver, he never really thought he’d see the day when he’d have to go through the waivers experience.
“I was devastated,” he said. He revealed that he was told the bad news by former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan on a Tuesday when he had come in for treatment.
“I remember leaving Coach Shanahan’s office and I was like, ‘What now?’ “Hixon said. “So I called my agent and he ran me through the process of the waiver wire, giving me different case scenarios.”
Recognizing what had happened as a new start, Hixon, who had laid down roots in the Denver area – he still owns a home in the suburbs -- said he went home and immediately began researching different teams to see what their personnel needs were at receiver in an attempt to handicap where he might go if he was picked up.
While he waited, Hixon said he ran through his career with Denver in his mind, wondering just where it had all gone wrong. “Of course you’re wondering if there was something else involved in your departure and you reminisce a bit,” he said, adding that he’s one to learn from his mistakes. “At the end of the day I was hoping for another opportunity with someone to go there and work hard.”
When the 24-hour period was over, Hixon received another surprise when he learned that the New York Giants, a team that had veterans Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer, plus up and coming youngsters like Steve Smith on their roster at receiver, were awarded his rights.
Hixon, who had never made it out to New York as a tourist, said he was excited to learn that he would have a job going forward, but when that feeling wore off, he went back and looked at the Giants’ roster. “I was like, ‘Wow, they have six good receivers here, and they picked me up.’ So I was surprised. I knew that initially I probably wasn’t going to be able to contribute at receiver, so I figured that they wanted me for special teams, so that’s where I began to focus my attention on.”
When Hixon received the phone call from Giants’ director of Administration Jim Phelan, the man who coordinates player visits and team travel, he quickly packed two suitcases and was on a flight bound for Newark within a few hours.
“You pretty much throw what ever you can into suitcases and bring your hard hat with you because it’s another opportunity,” Hixon said.
As Hixon flew to New Jersey on a red-eye that was due to arrive around four in the morning, he tried to stay focused on football, though he did engage in a conversation with a man seated next to him who was from the New York area.
When Hixon landed, a car took him to the team hotel, where he managed to squeeze in two hours of sleep before having to report to the tea’s facility at six that morning. When he arrived, he met with the equipment staff, met some of the team’s administrative staff, and then completed paperwork for the medical department.
Then he met his new teammates.
“I felt like the new kid coming into a classroom,” Hixon said with a smile. “But the guys all welcomed me. The biggest thing that surprised me was when Michael Strahan came up to me and said, ‘Hey Domenik, welcome to the team.’ I was like, ‘wow, he didn’t have to do that, but he did!’ Then a lot of other guys came over to introduce themselves and suddenly I wasn’t so nervous about being the new kid on the block because everyone made me feel like I was wanted and welcomed.”
Later that morning, Hixon met with Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. When asked to describe that meeting, he smiled, and said, “It was your typical short and sweet meeting. He looked up, said hello and then asked, ‘How was your flight?’ I told him it was good, and then he smiled and said, ‘Ok, then. Let’s get to work.’”
Armed with his new Giants playbook which Hixon said he had open every chance he had, it was then time for him to meet his new teammates in the receivers meeting room. “They treated me good, with lots of tough love,” he said, smiling at the memories. “We have a fine board in which we fine a guy for making mistakes in practices. So when I first came in, ‘Tooms’ (Amani Toomer) asked me what number I was. So I told him I was 87 and he added me to the fine board.”
Hixon then laughed as he recalled his first practice with the Giants. “Later that day I dropped a ball and ‘Tooms’ was like, ‘Hey jut because it’s your first day and you’ve only had two hours of sleep doesn’t mean we can’t fine you for a drop. I just smiled and said, ‘Let’s do it.”
For as welcomed as e felt, Hixon said he was also a bit uncomfortable at first because he knew that the Giants had released another young receiver, Anthony Mix, to make room for him on the roster. “It was a tough situation for me at first, even though (Mix) came back to the team on the practice squad. But I was never made uncomfortable because everyone knows it’s a business and we can’t control what goes on.”
As Hixon continued to learn the Giants system, he said he did a lot of praying and relying on his family and support group to get him through he transition. “I knew that it’s an opportunity, and that if you work hard everyday and put your best foot forward and do what you need to do on and off the field, I’ll be able to sleep at night.”
An affable type, Hixon also became more and more comfortable in the Giants locker room. “I think just the locker room excitement itself and the different personalities we have in here brings us together. For example, that year against the Jets, I made a tackle, and Strahan is hooping and hollering on the sideline saying, ‘That’s why we brought you here!’ I’m standing there thinking, ‘Wow, how cool is it that Michael Strahan, a future hall of famer, is noticing me? Stuff like that that made it special for me. This locker room had a lot of personality when I first came here – and it still does.”
This year, Hixon is going to have a chance to return to his roots in Denver, albeit he won’t be facing the coach that gave up on him. But he said it wouldn’t matter if Shanahan was still the coach, because he understands it’s a business and that teams do what they need to do. “I never took it personally that they let me go. It’s a business decision.”
But when asked if he might have an extra bounce or two in his step when he goes back to play his old team on thanksgiving night, Hixon just smiled. “If your employer lets you go and you get hired by someone else that you were competing against, would it mean more to you?”
When he looked back on his rocky road that cumulated in a Super Bowl ring that year and which two seasons later saw him enter the year as a starting receiver, Hixon said he realizes just how blessed he has been.
“At the time I was devastated, don’t get me wrong. I was questioning if I was ever going to play again. When one door closes, another one opens.
“I thank God every day for this opportunity because without Him, my parents and my support group, it’s a tough transition that I can’t imagine having made it as successfully as I did without them.”
Madison Hedgecock: Changing of the 'Guard'.
Like Hixon, fullback Madison Hedgecock is a former draft pick, having been chosen in the seventh round of the 2005 draft by St. Louis. But in Hedgecock’s case, the circumstances that brought him to the Giants were very different in that the North Carolina native believes that he was a victim of a changeover in coaching and administration.
When Hedgecock was drafted, it was by the duo of general manager Charlie Armey and head coach Mike Martz, both of whom were looking for a big bruising type of fullback to clear defenders out of the way for the running game. However, Martz eventually left the team after having some health problems and then a year later, Armey retired, as a new regime featuring Jay Zygmunt as the general manager and Scott Linehan as the head coach, took over.
As in most any situation, the new leadership regime had its own ideas as to whom they wanted on the roster. “When a new coach comes in, a lot of times you’ll see a lot of guys leave and new guys will come in. That’s nothing new in this league.”
So two years and one game after the Rams drafted him, Hedgecock lost his roster spot to TE Richard Owens, a player whom Linehan had coached at Louisville and in Minnesota who had just become available for service.
Hedgecock was informed of his dismissal by Linehan on a Tuesday, the designated players’ day off. He had been out on a farm helping a friend with some chores when he received a phone call advising him to come to the team’s facility to meet with the coach – and to bring his playbook.
Hurt and embarrassed by what he called “the most disrespectful, most disgraceful thing they could have done to me,” Hedgecock initially sought the comfort of some friends he made during his short time in St. Louis, wondering if he’d get another chance somewhere else.
However, he contained his emotions as he went through his exit interview with the Rams and began to ponder what the next 24 hours might have in store for him.
“It was like my season was over,” he said when he got the news. “I had played the first game with them and I couldn’t understand why, if they wanted to get rid of me, they didn’t do it in training camp so I could go to another team and learn the offense better. When they cut me, I didn’t know what was going to happen, if another team would give me a workout or a chance because the season had already started and rosters were pretty much set.”
Hedgecock, who said he didn’t even know how the waivers process worked, retreated to his rented apartment that night, still upset over his abrupt firing. “There’s never any pride in getting fired from your job – EVER and at any level. And that’s what happened to me.”
The next day, he finished up some business at the Rams facility and said good-bye to a few people he had come to know during his time there. One person, an assistant groundskeeper, gave him a quick over view of how the waiver wire worked and had some advice for the young fullback.
“He told me to pack my bags and be ready at a moment’s notice because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Although Hedgecock listened, he still had his doubts about what the future held. “You don’t expect to get picked on the waiver wire. If you get cut, you expect to be done -- that’s what I thought would happen to me.”
When the 24-hour waiting period concluded and the waiver claims were announced, Hedgecock was informed by his agent that the Giants wanted him. Within an hour, he was on his way, a single suitcase to New York where he figured his NFL career would be extended at least another four games.
“At first, I was like, ‘New York City?’,” Hedgecock said when he learned where he was going, adding that while he had played against the Giants in Giants Stadium in his rookie season, he had never spent any extensive time in the Metropolitan area.
Turning serious, he said, “I was like, ‘The Giants? Why would they want me?’ Then I figured, ‘Well, they showed interest in me out of college, and I played against them pretty good in my rookie year.’ But you never know why teams do what they do with personnel. So I thought, ’Hey maybe they just want me for the four weeks and then they’ll cut me again when someone else they like comes along or when someone gets healthy.”
As it turned out, though, his concerns were quickly alleviated since the Giants had other plans in mind. New York had been looking for a powerful fullback with no success – their offseason attempt to acquire restricted free agent Vonta Leach from Houston was rebuffed.
The other available free agents they brought in didn’t quite fit their vision for the role, and incumbent Jim Finn was already on injured reserve with a shoulder injury he had suffered in the off-season. So as the season drew closer, the Giants picked up Robert Douglas, who was their opening day fullback.
When Hedgecock, a player whom the Giants had seriously eyeballed when he was getting ready to enter the NFL draft in 2005, popped up on the waiver wire, the Giants wasted no time in scooping him up before his clothes even had a chance to get dirty from being out on the street.
Meanwhile for Hedgecock, he wasn’t so sure that he had found a place to call home for the long term. Knowing that he was guaranteed a minimum of four games and still a bit shaken from his bitter end in St. Louis, he figured that his stay in New York would be temporary and in a limited role at that.
“I figured I’d play on special teams,” he said. “I really didn’t expect to be thrown in on offense. When you get to a new team and you’re thrown into the fire, it’s kind of like you’re just helping them out for a short time.”
That’s why Hedgecock decided to move whatever he couldn’t fit into his suitcase back to his home in North Carolina. “I could have moved everything up here,” he said. “But to be honest, I didn’t really feel like a part of the team. I felt like I was just relieving someone until he was healthy or until they found someone better.”
That first weekend in a game against Green Bay, he was given about ten plays, this despite having only one day in which to practice and about 72 hours to learn the Giants’ terminology. “I had to really study a lot,” he said when he learned that he’d be expected to take snaps on offense. “But it was fun.”
Playing with a huge chip on his shoulder, Hedgecock explained, “I was reckless in my personality,” he said. “I didn’t care about anything. I was standoffish. I didn’t talk to any of the running backs when I first got here. The only person I talked to was my position coach (Jerald Ingram). I didn’t expect anyone to like me and I didn’t expect to like anyone else. I was like, ‘Well, I’ll help this team out for a while, then I’ll go back home.’ I really didn’t care about anything other than the football part of it.”
By channeling his anger into his work, Hedgecock continued to reinforce the Giants’ faith in him. He also began to endear himself not only to the fans, but most of all to his teammates, who during film sessions would be in awe as they witnessed the bone-crushing blocks this quiet, intense new teammate of theirs delivered week after week on unsuspecting defensive ends and linebackers who tried to get in his way.
These days it’s a different story for Hedgecock, who doesn’t get a lot of recognition for what he does, yet is such an integral part of the offense that running back Brandon Jacobs once said he can’t envision life without. Hedgecock has come out of his shell and has won teammates over with his intelligence, his sense of humor and his ‘aw shucks’ country boy persona that sometimes makes him a target for good-natured ribbing that exists amongst the brotherhood in the locker room.
More importantly, the front office rewarded their fullback of the future with a five-year contract extension, a move that he agreed helped alleviate some concerns he had about his future, though he stressed that he feels like he has to go out there every day and earn that contract all over again. “You can’t be complacent in this business because you have a contract because the second you are, you’re out the door.”
As for his bitterness towards St. Louis, he admits it’s subsided, though he also confessed to keeping just enough with him every week because it not only works for him in what he does, it helps him keep perspective on just how fragile the life of a NFL player really is.
When Hedgecock had a chance to play against his former coach last year in a game that the Giants won 41-14 on the road -- he said he was able to find some closure to his situation. That game in which the Giants beat up on the Rams 41-14 and one would be one of Linehan’s final games as head coach of the Rams.
“I wanted to send them a message,” Hedgecock said. “I wanted to beat them down. The way they played and the way we beat them so bad, I wouldn’t have gotten any extra gratification out of rubbing it in their face.”
Now that he’s proven that he is as good as anyone in this league and that he’s established himself as an integral part of the Giants offense, Hedgecock has a different perspective about his experience as a waiver wire guy.
“I don’t really think about it now,” he said. “I guess if times got tough, I could use it, but I understand what happened better now than when it happened. I just focus on doing my job, not creating any trouble and doing the best I can – that’s really all I can do.”
'Never Rest on Your Laurels.'
For every Hixon and Hedgecock out there who comes in and finds a niche within a team, there are more than a handful of players who become so dejected that they never fully recover from the shock, embarrassment and humbling of being sent packing by a team.
One thing that most successful waiver wire pickups do share is a positive attitude when it comes to the X’s and O’s. “It’s a wake-up call, definitely,” Hixon said. “You sit there and think about what you did or didn’t do with your previous team and you have to pretty much make up your mind to not let it happen again because you don’t want your new team to give up on you.”
But it’s still a challenge for most young players to not only learn the new team’s playbook, but also become acclimated into the locker room culture.
“Everything you’ve done before you were picked up off the waiver wire gets erased,” Hedgecock said. “You don’t know your new teammates and they don’t know you, so as the new guy coming in, you have to go back to the drawing board and earn the respect of your new teammates all over again.”
But that’s where the true champions rise to the challenge by prioritizing their responsibilities and getting down to business in hopes of showing their new head coach that they are very much worthy of the chance they’ve been given.
“I’ve never been afraid of a challenge,” said Hixon. “And the way I see it, if I’m lucky enough to get a second chance, then why would I want to mess that up? Not too many guys get second chances. I don’t know what the percentage is, but a lot of guys who pass through waivers end up out of the league and to me, that’s more depressing that having to uproot yourself and start over with a new team.”
“Every day I come to work, do what they (the coaches) ask me to do, and then I go home,” Hedgecock added. “I don’t get involved with politics or none of that stuff. I’m a football player; I ain’t a politician. I’m here to do a job, and as long as I can stand up, I’m going to do my job.”
The Giants wouldn’t want it any other way.
