Ep. 2: Undrafted, Hamstring Torn Off the Bone, and He Still Made 4 NFL Teams | Jake Bargas

Undrafted out of UNC, Jake Bargas made the NFL the hard way. He signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2020, and his very first NFL game was on Christmas Day in the Superdome. From there he became a true journeyman: four teams, a 72-hour cameo with the Chicago Bears, and weeks grinding on the practice squad.

The road there was brutal. A week before his senior season at UNC, Bargas tore his hamstring off the bone and the agent calls went silent. That's where his "24-hour rule" was born: give yourself one day to feel sorry for yourself, then get back to work. To claw his way back after a cut, he cold-called GMs and even DM'd coaches (Falcons coach Arthur Smith, a fellow Tar Heel, actually answered) with a pitch built on pure humility: "I'll fill up the waters, man. I just want another chance." He breaks down the roster math most fans never see (90 in camp, cut to 80, then 70, and only 53 make the active roster, where "you have to take food off someone else's plate"), and why he calls going undrafted "the greatest gift" for keeping him humble. The kicker: even with NFL money, he still drives the same car he had in high school.

Then came New York, "the most competitive place in the world." Bargas traded the league for commercial real estate at JLL, where a tired "yes" to Messi tickets at a networking event turned into a closed deal six months later. Now he's betting on the New York to South Florida migration, brokering tenants into West Palm, Miami, and Tampa. Sajag and Jake Geddes get into all of it from NYC's Living Room in Midtown Manhattan, right up to the one question every guest has to answer: who's the coolest person you know?

🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/qQy7FaVa0ro
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