Former FSU Thrower Austin Droogsma Gets NFL Opportunity With The New York Giants

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

Austin Droogsma always dreamed of playing football in the NFL, but his journey to a professional contract with the New York Giants wasn’t traditional.

Droogsma was a three-star offensive lineman out of Gulf Breeze High in 2013. He had eight offers, including Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Florida State, but he never played a down of college football. Instead, he chose the Seminoles for track and field only. 

Droogsma was a stalwart in the circle for the garnet and gold. He won both the ACC Championship indoors and outdoors in the shot put his senior year and finished fifth indoors and seventh outdoors at the NCAA Championships in 2018.

“Austin has a great work ethic,” FSU Director of Field Events Dorian Scott said. “He learned the rotational shot put while in college. He was a glider and multi-sport athlete in high school. He studied the technique and got obsessed with trying to max out his potential, so he brought 100 percent to practice each day.”

Droogsma was also a gym rat who loved lifting weights. He would complete his workout and then go lift for an hour on his own afterward simply because he loved being in the weight room. He graduated from Florida State in May 2018 and began training professionally for the shot put.

After a while, he decided that the passion and fire he had for the sport weren’t burning inside him anymore and he wanted to enjoy life.

“For about three months that’s what I did,” he explained. “I was going to concerts, hanging out with friends, just the usual stuff. I was content that sports were over for me and I was ready to be a part of society. I wasn’t training or anything. Sports were not even a thought in my head.”

Out of the blue, he received a call from the NFL’s New York Giants. Droogsma still isn’t sure how they found him.

“I guess some guy that works for the Giants kept tabs on me and then put my name in the right hands,” Droogsma said. “They called me at the end of April to invite me up for a tryout. I figured it would be a cool experience and fun to play ball again, and that’s exactly what it was. But there was a little extra icing on the cake.”

Droogsma packed his bags and headed toward rookie minicamp. With less than 10 days to prepare, he worked with a few of FSU’s offensive linemen.

The Giants wanted to see what kind of shape he was in, and if he was still athletic.

“I’m definitely glad I answered that phone call,” he said “We were there for three days. We did basic footwork drills, pass protection, run-blocking, sled-pushing and hand-checking drills.” 

Droogsma’s size is an advantage. At 6-foot-4, 345 pounds, he is bigger than Giants starting left guard Will Hernandez and right guard Kevin Zeitler.

Taking a non-conventional path football’s largest stage leaves the former thrower with something else to drive him, the opportunity to prove that he belongs. 

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be a professional athlete and even though my shot put career was cut short, I’m glad that I have a second chance to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams,” Droogsma said. 

The undrafted free agent's short-term goal is to make it through the team's summer camp, and at a minimum, make the practice squad.

“I have everything to prove because I’m the lowest man on the totem pole and I’ll be the first kicked off if I give them a reason to do so,” Droogsma added. “I have to outwork everybody just to fight for a chance to have a spot on the team.”