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I call the UDFA free-for-all after the completion of Day 3 the “Dessert draft.” The UDFA carousel on Saturday night in essence takes care of Rounds 8-20 at warp-speed.
Undrafted players comprise roughly one-fifth of NFL rosters and provide the NFL with more value and snaps than the sixth- and seventh-rounds combined. In three-consecutive years, the Chargers found Austin Ekeler, the Broncos discovered Phillip Lindsay, and the Jaguars struck gold with James Robinson during the UDFA sweepstakes.
The list of Hall of Famers who went undrafted includes Kurt Warner, John Randle, Warren Moon and Dick “Night Train” Lane. Recent notable UDFA include Tony Romo, Doug Baldwin, James Harrison, Wes Welker, Antonio Gates, Arian Foster, Cameron Wake and Chris Harris. Current UDFAs making an impact in the NFL include Adam Thielen, Robby Anderson, Alejandro Villanueva, La’El Collins, Michael Pierce, Shaquil Barrett, Mario Addison, Cory Littleton, Malcolm Butler, J.C. Jackson, and Anthony Harris.
This year’s UDFA crop is especially intriguing. Because the NCAA’s 2020 pandemic eligibility waiver allowed graduated seniors to return to school, the 2021 NFL Draft had only 657 declared prospects. By contrast, the year before, in 2020, 1,932 prospects declared. This class, with eligibilities exhausting of players granted the extra year, we had over 2,000 declarees. That means a deeper UDFA pool.
Let’s dive into how the NFC did in this year’s “Dessert Draft.” The ranking in parenthesis following each team below indicates how each ranked overall in the NFL. Speaking of that, check back Friday for my AFC UDFA class rankings.
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1. Dallas Cowboys (1)
No team invests…