After being selected with the final pick in the 2004 draft, Colorado State linebacker Andre Sommersell learned just how tough it is to land with an NFL team.
He was dispatched by the Oakland Raiders at the end of their 2004 preseason, and tried to catch on with the Browns during a two-week practice squad stint, but that didn't pan out either. So his 2004 season left him with plenty of questions about his future in pro football.
He got another chance, this time from the Indianapolis Colts in their 2005 training camp. But almost one year to the day after his release by the Raiders, the cycle began for Sommersell all over again as he found himself without a team for the 2005 season as the Colts trimmed their roster.
Sommersell has found new hope in the Canadian Football League as a defensive end. The Edmonton Eskimos signed him and originally planned to have him compete for a linebacker spot, but he's been playing so well in his debut on the defensive line that the team might just let him battle it out for a roster spot from there.
"He's going to be a difference-maker," defensive line coach Dennis Winston recently told the Edmonton Sun. "He knows only one speed and that is full speed."
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