Former East Carolina wide receiver Isaiah Winstead had a frustrating weekend during the NFL Draft after not hearing his name called, then not getting any offers to sign as an undrafted free agent when the draft concluded.
That's when he took matters into his own hands and posted a highlight video of himself on Twitter. He quickly found himself with a contract from the San Francisco 49ers after his Tweet went viral.
While that video was credited with Winstead finally getting a look, 49ers general manager John Lynch dumped some cold water on that story by saying Winstead was on their radar all along.
“Apparently, he attacked it hard on social media, so I think people thought that maybe we were swayed by that,” Lynch said during an appearance on KNBR on Thursday morning, via NBC Bay Area.
“He committed to some other teams for rookie minicamps,” added Lynch. “We liked him enough for a rookie minicamp invite, so how do you top that, well, you say, ‘Hey, we’ll go ahead and sign you to our 90.’ So we did.”
To be fair, the highlight video was pretty cool and did get him some extra attention. You also have to admire the persistence and energy to keep fighting for a tryout even when he did not get an initial call.
You can see his highlights here.
6’4 210 moving like this. No mini camp invite or UDFA deal. Behind the scenes on what I can do. With 88 catches & 1100 yds this past season… God makes no mistakes tho thank you in advanced pic.twitter.com/h4WE2hXI3Y
— Isaiah Winstead ♂️ (@Zayti99y_) April 30, 2023
He clearly has ideal size for an NFL wide receiver, and he is coming off of a monster 2022 season at East Carolina after transferring from Toledo, recording 88 catches for 1,085 yards and six touchdowns..
He got his chance in the NFL. Now it is up to him to make the most of it. Given his determination in getting a contract it seems likely that he will give everything he has on the field to not waste it.
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