As an undrafted free agent, expectations are pretty low for Oakland Raiders quarterback Cody Fajardo.
A product of the Nevada 'Pistol' offense, Fajardo entered the 2015 NFL Draft process with plenty of questions of his NFL readiness and ability to read defenses, even as teams salivated over his size (6-foot-1, 223-pounds), arm strength and mobility.
After going unselected through the draft's seven rounds, Fajardo landed with the Oakland Raiders and could, based on his physical attributes and the lack of depth at the signal-caller position beyond Derek Carr, find himself vying for a roster spot come late August.
"Veteran Christian Ponder looks like the favorite to be Carr's backup, so that leaves Fajardo battling with Matt McGloin for the third quarterback spot," writes Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com. "With a new coaching staff and offense, it seems feasible that Fajardo has a shot at beating out McGloin. McGloin has an edge of some starting experience from 2013, but Fajardo has a better skill set and more upside. Thus, it wouldn't be surprising if the new staff, with offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, prefers to work on developing Fajardo over McGloin."
Fajardo finished 2014 for The Wolf Pack with 2,498 yards passing, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He then performed well at both the East-West Shrine Game and the NFL rookie scouting combine, making it very surprising that he ultimately wound up a free agent.
Interestingly, per Campbell, Fajardo may have gone undrafted not due to his play, but because of an undisclosed injury which worried some teams.
"Sources say the reason they had a late-round grade on Fajardo, but an injury concern had their team remove him from their draft board. Two other teams echoed that sentiment, so there must have been something significant in his medical file to cause teams to drop him into the undrafted pool."
While Fajardo likely isn't ready to step onto an NFL field from Day One, if he can show the athletic ability and work ethic that made him a dual-threat signal-caller in college, Musgrave and Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio may have no choice but to keep him around as they continue to revamp the Oakland roster and culture.
