Just in case if you have not gone through the process - here is my recollection of events this past year:
(disclaimer: of course this is the second hand info from the parent, but here goes)
First of all, JR worked very hard in the off season with Ford Sports in Seattle for several months. Then he had a great pro day back at UM. At pro day several reps from the teams approached him: KC Chiefs, Seattle, 49ers. The Chiefs gave him a written test. He completed it in 15 minutes, the rep said the average was about 45 minutes to complete. The KC rep told JR to be very close to the phone on draft day.
Before draft day, seven or eight other NFL teams double checked to make sure they had his immediate number to call on draft day.
On draft day, I got a text from JR at the beginning of the 5th round. He texted, "Dad are you watching" of course I was. But after the 5th round, he was not chosen. (Later I found out that he and his agent were expecting to be drafted by the Detroit Lions in round 5 but was not)
Once the draft was over, all of the teams could legally start calling their free agent choices, and 10 seconds after the last pic (the Mr. Irrelevant pick) the Kansas City Chiefs called JR and he immediately accepted. 30 seconds later, the Detroit Lions, and 1 minute after that the Seattle Seahawks called - but of course he had already committed to KC.
For the next 4 months JR was a KC Chief. He did very well in rookie camp and in the pre-season worked his way up to even taking a lot of reps with the second team until his injury.
During last summer, Eric Berry and Marcus Peters took JR under 'their wings' so to speak. Not a bad thing for any rookie.
During the first pre season game with the 49ers, JR played special teams and half of the third and all of the 4th quarter at CB. He did well. (One note: he gave up a 2 point conversion with the receiver rising over JR's head to nab the 2 points - the receiver was Bourne, his former rival from Eastern W.)
The next Tuesday he got hurt in practice, and after about ten days with all of the medical results, JR and the Chiefs agreed to an injury settlement, which made him available for any other team.
After the doctors gave him a 100% healed label in October, JR had workouts and practices with 5 NFL teams - Jets, 49ers, Texans, Lions, and Broncos. The 49ers and Broncos said to be close to the phone in January after the season
Well, January arrived and the first call was from the Ottawa Redblacks, JR felt in his heart that he should take it and he did without hesitation. Thus the news release this week.
(I should note that the GM of Ottawa has ties with the GM of KC, and he personally saw JR practicing during the summer with the Chiefs)
If I missed something JR will certainly correct me, I hope this gives some insight as to the process. I am so blessed and proud to have a son to go through all of this - and considering he played only half of his season his senior year at UM, we are greatful - but he has worked his tail off to get this far