Ravens' HC Shares Favorite Part of Roster Decisions

"[I get] so much joy," Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "The whole thing is emotional. The whole thing is incredibly meaningful. Walking out of the tunnel back to the buses from Washington one of the young guys, he was kind of walking [slowly by], and you could tell he was emotional. [I asked him], 'How'd you play?' And he goes, 'I think I did just OK, not great.' And [I said], 'I'll bet you played great. You've been playing great the whole camp. I'll bet you were physical.' And he just gave me the biggest hug. It just means so much."

Harbaugh pointed out how the undrafted free agents often had their family members attending preseason games with their jerseys on, a touching reminder that the end of the day, they're just people like the rest of us.

"Football, it's an amazing, crazy sport. It's a real metaphor. I've always said this, it's a metaphor for life. I know it's not life, but it is life. It is life for the people who are involved in it. And I think that's why the fans involve themselves so much and make it part of their lives, because they can see how real it is."

"This is genuine, real drama, and they put so much into it. Look at our running backs [and] how hard they ran in that game, throwing their bodies in there the way they did for a quote-unquote meaningless preseason game. [But it's] not meaningless to the people playing in it and to their families."

On the other side of the coin, Harbaugh said that telling players they didn't make the team has only gotten harder over the years, contrary to what some might expect.

For the three undrafted free agents that did make the Ravens' roster this year, though, their NFL journeys are just beginning.