The rookie minicamp is useless. That’s what a top-draft pick, who doesn’t have a lot to prove before the real deal begins, would say. Leonard Fournette, picked 4th overall in 2017, was never under pressure to try and fight for a roster spot. But for every Fournette out there, there are those like James Harrison, who earn their way onto the roster.

“To me, rookie minicamp was kind of like a waste of time,” Fournette said on the 4th & South podcast. “Why? I mean, besides learning the plays and getting the playbook under you, you’re just working out. Working out, you have player development meetings.”

“My rookie minicamp wasn’t as hard as the other guys who were kind of undrafted free agents, you know, trying to figure out whether they were going to be on the team or not,” he added. “I mean, there were times where I didn’t have to take a lot of reps, as everybody else probably two or three, right? I probably did two or three reps, and other guys took more of them.”

Coming out of Louisiana State University, Fournette entered the 2017 draft as one of the biggest prospects in the country. He was a top-10 player and had been projected as the third-best prospect heading into the Combine. Unsurprisingly, the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him 4th, and he ended up being a solid pick.

A rookie Fournette amassed 1,040 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in addition to 36 catches for 302 yards. He was good enough to earn the 58th spot on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018 list. After three seasons in Jacksonville, Fournette moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won Super Bowl LV and scored a touchdown in the title game. He then joined the Buffalo Bills in 2023, which turned out to be the final year of his seven-season NFL career. All of this without breaking a sweat in the minicamp.

But while this journey looked smooth from the outside, Jarvis Landry, host of the 4th & South podcast, shared a completely different perspective, being a second-round pick.

“I remember practicing, you know, them taking second team and first team reps my rookie year and then going to the rookie camp and then taking every first team rep and, bro, it was so hard. It was tiring. It was hard, but it was also an opportunity to run routes that I wasn’t getting an opportunity to run when I was with the whole team,” he said.

Landry, who played for the Dolphins, Browns, and Saints in his career, appreciated the chance to prove himself. As he explained, rookie camps, which take place every year, allow players to “show more about what I can do, the type of player I was, the type of leader I was.”

Rookie Minicamp opened doors for Tony Romo, James Harrison, and others

Teams usually do not sign undrafted free agents expecting them to become instant stars. Most franchises are simply looking for players who can fill a role and slowly develop into something bigger over time. For an undrafted rookie, making the roster starts with proving he can contribute in any way possible.

That is exactly how Harrison began his journey. He went undrafted in the 2002 NFL Draft because teams believed he was too small to play linebacker at six feet tall and too undersized at 240 pounds to fit on the defensive line. A few teams reportedly invited him to training camp, but it was the Pittsburgh Steelers who took a gamble on him.

What followed was one of the greatest underdog success stories in NFL history. Harrison became a two-time Super Bowl champion, won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2008, earned five Pro Bowl selections, and collected multiple All-Pro honors.

Tony Romo was another player who went undrafted out of Eastern Illinois in the 2003 Draft before later signing a seven-year, $102 million extension with the Dallas Cowboys in 2013. Wes Welker, who went undrafted in 2004, eventually led the NFL in receptions three times in six seasons.

Arian Foster was not drafted in the 2009 Draft but went on to become the league’s leading rusher in 2010 with the Texans.

So, rookie minicamps may feel unnecessary or boring for some first-round picks. But for players like these, who have been overlooked and undervalued, rookie minicamps give them the perfect platform to prove their worth to everyone.

If they were as casual as Fournette, a superstar ready-made from college, they would not have reached where they did.