When the NFL Draft was reduced to 7 Rounds several CBAs ago the number of Undrafted Rookie Free Agents (URFA) rose slightly to essentially replace those deleted Rounds. Most teams enter each season’s Training Camp with 15-25 such signees, on their 90-man rosters, depending upon their needs and/or the scouting reports from their Scouting Departments.
But in general the number of these non-Draftees who make an NFL roster as Rookies is rather small, at least when it comes to their initial 53-man rosters. Since I will be the guy here who regularly follows the progress of Rookies on a weekly basis I perused NFL rosters of Sunday, September 3rd to establish starting points for some of these Rookies.Â
2023 NFL Rookie Free Agent Outlook
AFC
Total URFA on 53-man rosters: Â Â 21
Teams with at least 1 URFA: Â 5 TITANS: Â 3 BROWNS, BRONCOS, DOLPHINS: Â 2 Â CHARGERS, JETS; 1 COLTS, JAGUARS, CHIEFSÂ
Teams with 0, URFA Â Â RAVENS, BILLS, BENGALS, TEXANS, RAIDERS, PATRIOTS, STEELERS
The following Rookies who are on AFC teams, but were undrafted, were in my Top 300 Prospect list for the 2023 Draft:
ISAIAH LAND Â LB/ER Â COLTS Â Â PP# 120
A.J. FINLEY Â Â S/ST Â CHARGERS Â Â PP#154
CALEB MURPHY Â Â ER/OB Â Â TITANS Â Â PP#168
MO DIABATE Â LB Â Â BROWNS Â Â PP#191
RAKIM JARRETT Â Â WR Â Â BUCS Â Â PP#192
THOMAS INCOOM Â Â ER/OB Â Â Â BRONCOS Â Â PP#204
JASON BROWNLEEÂ WR Â Â JETS Â Â Â PP#270
Two notes to be aware of in following Rookies during the regular season. Practice Squads often carry up to 10 Rookies, many of them Undrafted, which makes them eligible to play games on an as-needed basis. And a significant number of those players will make 53-man rosters in 2024.
Multiple undrafted rookie free agents are currently listed on NFL Reserve Lists. A significant number of them will be moved onto rosters once they have recovered from injuries or suspensions. An example might be the RAVENS. Baltimore has 2 URFA currently on their Reserve list in KEATON MITCHELL/RB/RS & MALIK HAMM/LB/E. Both of them made the initial 53-man Roster before being placed on IR and thus are eligible to return to play this year if healthy.Â
We’ll look at the NFC before week’s end.
Cheers