ESPN NFL Draft 2008

Like so many other late-round picks who have gone on to have successful careers T.J. Houshmandzadeh took an unorthodox path to the NFL. After dropping out of high school, Houshmandzadeh earned his GED and enrolled at Cerritos College in California. He transferred to Oregon State but didn't crack the starting lineup until his senior season and put up respectable, but not eye-popping numbers, that year. As a result, there were concerns that he would be a one-year wonder and questions about his top-end speed only made matters worse. As a result, it came as little surprise that he didn't hear his name called until Cincinnati drafted him in the seventh round in 2001.

In fairness to the teams that passed on him, it appeared to be a wise choice considering his first three seasons. While he made solid contributions on special teams and strides at receiver, injuries hindered him, including a hamstring injury that forced the Bengals to keep him on the inactive list for the first 10 games of the 2003 season. But Houshmandzadeh, who had a strong preseason in 2003, had quietly been developing into a crisp short-to-intermediate route runner while improving his ability to read the defense. Meanwhile, franchise QB Carson Palmer took over the reigns of the offense after spending his rookie season learning the scheme and Chad Johnson had firmly entrenched himself as the No.1 receiver. With Johnson drawing attention away from him and Palmer willing and able to get him the ball when he was able to separate from man coverage, Houshmandzadeh caught 73 passes for 978 yards and four touchdowns in 2004. Since then he's continued to fine-tune his game and earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl after tying for the league-lead in receptions with 112 last year.

Below is a list of four mid-to-late round prospects from this year's wide receiver class who are trying to find their way to success at the NFL level.

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