Undrafted free agents – Page 2

Packers keep 11 of 13 draft picks and 3 UDFAs on initial 53-man roster of 2023

The Packers kept 11 of their 13 draft picks and 3 undrafted free agents on the initial 53-man roster of 2023.

The Green Bay Packers kept 11 of their 13 draft picks and three undrafted free agents on the initial 53-man roster of 2023.

The two draft picks released: running back Lew Nichols (who was waived/injured due to a shoulder injury) and receiver Grant DuBose, who missed all of the offseason workout program and part of training camp because of a back injury. Both Nichols (No. 235) and DuBose (No. 256) were seventh-round picks.

Both were squeezed off the roster by undrafted free agents signed this year.

Receiver Malik Heath (Ole Miss), edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr. (Florida) and running back Emanuel Wilson (Fort Valley State) made the team. All three were preseason standouts.

Heath led the team with 12 catches for 146 yards during the preseason. Cox led the team with seven pressures and two batted passes. Wilson led the entire NFL with 223 rushing yards.

The Packers extended their streak of 19 straight seasons keeping at least one undrafted free agent, and also kept three undrafted free agents for the first time since 2018.

The Packers also kept first-year punter Daniel Whelan, who replaces veteran Pat O’Donnell and gives Green Bay two specialists without NFL experience.

The following draft picks made the team: Lukas Van Ness, Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed, Tucker Kraft, Colby Wooden, Sean Clifford, Dontayvion Wicks, Karl Brooks, Anders Carlson, Carrington Valentine and Anthony Johnson.

Although Nichols will need an injury settlement, DuBose could quickly return if the Packers place a player or two on injured reserve on Wednesday.

Tracking where the top undrafted free agents who did not hear their names called in the 2023 NBA Draft have signed

The names who didn’t get called during the draft are finding their new teams.

The 2023 NBA draft has come and gone, but the draft cycle continues a bit longer as several undrafted free agents find their new homes.

While the following prospects didn’t get to hear their name called by the commissioner or deputy commissioner on Thursday night, they can find solace in the fact that their path to the pros is far from over. It’s not unheard of for an undrafted free agent to carve out a role for themselves in the NBA.

We have seen former undrafted free agent Fred VanVleet make the All-Star name. We also saw several players, such as Lakers rookie Austin Reaves, have valuable roles for their team despite not hearing their names called in the draft.

This season, notable prospects such as Oscar Tshiebwe and Drew Timme will join the fraternity of undrafted basketball players who hope to still make a name for themselves in the NBA.

Several notable international prospects (e.g. Nadir Hifi, Enzo Shahrvin, Tom Digbeu, Nikos Rogkavopoulos, Marek Blazevic, Mario Nakić, Keye Van Der Vuurst and others) were not called and will likely remain overseas.

Meanwhile, some NCAA prospects (Virginia Tech’s Grant Basile, Arizona’s Courtney Ramey, Seton Hall’s KC Ndefo and Purdue NW’s Alou Dillon) will sign deals with teams abroad rather than play in the NBA’s Summer League.

Otherwise, here is where the best remaining prospects have landed so far, according to reports:

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Broncos announce undrafted free agent signings: Meet the 15 players

Learn more about the 15 undrafted free agents the Broncos signed following the 2023 NFL draft.

After selecting five players in the 2023 NFL draft (and adding a sixth player through a draft-day trade), the Denver Broncos have filled their 90-man offseason roster by signing undrafted free agents.

The Broncos signed 15 UDFAs after the draft, including two running backs and two defensive linemen. Those are two notable positions given that Denver did not select a running back or a defensive lineman during the draft.

The Broncos also brought in tight ends, wide receivers, offensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs. Undrafted players often face long odds to make the 53-man roster, but Denver has a strong history of uncovering UDFA gems.

Here’s a look at the 15 UDFA signings the Broncos made in 2023.

Raiders officially sign 10 undrafted free agents ahead of rookie camp

Here are the 11 newest UDFAs and IPP player headed to Raiders rookie camp.

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Raiders rookie camp starts today. And just before those players hit the field, the team has made the signings of their undrafted rookies official.

Here are the 10 additions along with their International Pathway Program offseason invitation:

Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	College
David Agoha	DL	6-4	252	NFL I.P.P
McClendon Curtis	G	6-6	325	Chattanooga
Jaydon Grant	S	6-0	190	Oregon State
Azizi Hearn	CB	6-1	204	UCLA
Brock Martin	DE	6-2	240	Oklahoma State
Jordan Perryman	CB	6-0	198	Washington
Adam Plant	DE	6-5	263	UNLV
John Shenker	TE	6-3	242	Auburn
George Tarlas	DE	6-3	253	Boise State
Drake Thomas	LB	5-11	223	N.C. State
Dalton Wagner	T	6-8	320	Arkansas

Agoha: A native of Abia State, Nigera, he was Allocated to the Raiders from the NFL International Player Pathway program.

Curtis: P Started 38 games over the past four seasons at Tennessee-Chattanooga, including 30 starts at right guard where he was a three-time First-team All-SoCon selection.

Grant: A Second-team All-Pac-12 player in 2022 as a sixth year senior. He has career totals of nine interceptions, and 28 pass breakups for the Beavers.

Hearn: Transferred to UCLA as a senior following three years at Wyoming and a season at University of Arizona. In total, he had 37 starts over five collegiate seasons.

Martin: The edge rusher put up 16 sacks and 40 tackles for loss over 34 starts at Oklahoma State and was named Second-team All-Big 12 as senior.

Perryman: A two-time First-team All-Big Sky performer at UC Davis in 2021, he transferred to Washington where he started 10 games with one interception and 12 pass breakups.

Plant: The UNLV product, set career highs last season with 62 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks and three forced fumbles.

Shenker: Played Finished his five-year career at as the school’s all-time leader in receptions for a tight end (68) and second in receiving yards (779).

Tarlas: Played Transferred to Boise State after four years at Weber State where his 19 sacks and 25 tackles for loss earned him All-Big Sky honors thrice.

Thomas: Played A two-time First-team All-ACC performer at NC State with 19 career sacks, 46 tackles for loss, four interceptions, and 13 pass breakups.

Wagner: Started 40 games at Arkansa and was twice named All-SEC.

Seahawks named biggest winners in undrafted free agency

The Seahawks are also getting very high marks for the crop of players they signed as undrafted free agents.

The Seahawks came out of the 2023 NFL draft with a strong class of rookies but also 28 open roster spots to fill. Right now, it looks like most of those openings are going to be occupied by undrafted free agents. For one thing, Seattle simply doesn’t have the cap space to afford any veterans.

On the positive side of the ledger, the Seahawks are also getting very high marks for the crop of players they signed as undrafted free agents. Specifically, Thor Nystrom at Fantasy Pros has a new ranking of the top UDFA classes in the NFC and he has Seattle on top by a very wide margin.

“The Seahawks were the big winners of this year’s UDFA free-for-all… The Seahawks signed 23 UDFA that I had rankings on pre-draft, tying for the NFL-lead. But the quality was even better than the quantity – Seattle’s signing of 17 players on my 500-player big board easily led the NFL. In my ranking system, there was a larger qualitative difference between Seattle’s UDFA class and the No. 2 class (Tampa Bay) than four different franchises’ UDFA groups scored in sum.”

There’s still been no official confirmation from the team about signing them, but reports have Seattle picking up 28 new college free agents. Fans should not be surprised if most of them wind up making the initial 53-man roster.

Chiefs announce 15 undrafted free agent signings ahead of rookie minicamp

The #Chiefs made it official, signing 15 undrafted free agents to the 90-man offseason roster.

The Kansas City Chiefs have officially announced that they’ve signed 15 undrafted free agents ahead of the team’s rookie minicamp.

Here are the players that will join the Chiefs’ draft class at rookie minicamp beginning Saturday:

Missouri State CB Montrae Braswell
Tarleton State University OL Blake Haynes
Missouri S Martez Manuel
Harvard EDGE Truman Jones
Merrimack DB Anthony Witherstone
Appalachian State OL Anderson Hardy
Marshall S Isaiah Norman
Texas S Anthony Cook
Indiana LB Cam Jones
Tulsa RB Deneric Prince
NC State LB Isaiah Moore
Tennessee OL Jerome Carvin
Fresno State WR Nikko Remigio
Purdue CB Reese Taylor
Missouri WR Ty Scott

We have previously tracked each of these signings here along with minicamp invites.

A few players turned out to be minicamp invites who were misreported as signings, such as Grand Valley State OL Quinton Barrow, Indiana DL Demarcus Elliott and Tulane TE Tyrick James.

The team also officially signed Nigerian OL Chukwuebuka Jason Godrick via the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.

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Michigan State football 2023 undrafted free agent tracker

Tracking where every undrafted Michigan State player ends up:

The 2023 NFL draft is over, but many players, including many Michigan State football players, will get opportunities to play in the NFL by way of undrafted free agent signings.

Below, we track all the Michigan State players who are being signed as undrafted free agents.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

Raiders OL McClendon Curtis named one of NFL’s top undrafted free agent signees

Every year there are players who unexpectedly fall out of the draft who many thought would be drafted. But not all of them are created equally. Many of them are somewhat high profile prospects from big schools who, for whatever reason, led NFL teams to see them as undraftable.

McClendon Curtis wouldn’t really be the kind of player one would consider “high profile”. He didn’t play at a power five school, but rather Tennessee-Chattanooga.

He received an invite to the 2023 Scouting Combine and was considered by many to be a mid-round caliber talent. Which, for a small school player, is pretty good.

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had him as the 12th best guard in this draft with a 5th or 6th round projection. Just behind Nick Broeker and three spots ahead of Andrew Vorhees — both of whom were drafted in the two spots ahead of the Raiders pick (231) in the seventh round.

Yet Curtis was not drafted and quickly received a call from the Raiders who signed him to an undrafted free agent contract.

TouchdownWire put together a list of players they deemed to be the top undrafted players and Curtis was squarely among them.

The 6-6, 324-pounder started 30 games at right guard the past four years at Chattanooga. Three of those years, he was named First Team All-SoCom and this past year, First Team All-American. He projects best in a power-gap scheme.

As it happens, the Raiders has a major need at right guard for their power-gap scheme, which could be part of the reason when the Raiders came calling, Curtis accepted.

Granted, none of this means the Raiders literally got a 5th round pick as an undrafted free agent. Or that he is legit contender for the starting right guard spot. But he may be in the best position to have a shot at grabbing a roster spot, which is a good first step toward that goal.

One undrafted free agent rookie to watch for each team

Highlighting one undrafted rookie free agent for each team with a strong chance of making an impact

Teams don’t stop their pursuit of finding players who can help them once the NFL draft ends. The next step is picking and choosing the undrafted rookies and signing them as free agents, or UDFAs.

The undrafted rookies will get chances to prove themselves in upcoming rookie minicamps, OTAs and minicamp heading into the full team training camp this summer. Which ones stand strong chances to not only make the roster, but maybe even make an impact on the team?

Here is one UDFA candidate from each of the 32 teams who stands out as a player with a good chance to stick on the roster.

One thing to know about each of the Rams’ 26 undrafted rookies

Get to know the Rams’ undrafted rookie class with one thing to know about each of the 26 players

The Rams will have a lot of rookies on their offseason roster after selecting 14 players in the draft and signing another 26 as undrafted free agents. Few teams will give their rookies a better chance to make the team than the Rams this year, considering they only had 44 players on their roster before the draft.

Los Angeles is no stranger to finding undrafted gems and there could be one or two again this year. Here’s one thing to know about each of the 26 prospects they signed after the draft.