Undrafted rookie class continues bounce back from Covid slump … With training camps limited earlier this decade because of the pandemic, it really was particularly hard for undrafted rookies to break through and make an NFL roster. In 2021, for example, just 25 undrafted rookies survived the final round of cuts as teams around the league got down to their initial 53-man rosters, while the figure was 32 in 2020. However, it appears that the situation for undrafted rookies has improved the past couple of years. Indeed, this year, 51 undrafted rookies were still on their respective team’s 53-man roster after the Turk’s visit this week, after 60 made it last fall. Those numbers, though, are still down slightly from recent pre-covid years when it was not uncommon for 55-60 undrafted players to make an opening day roster.

In fact, the majority of NFL teams kept at least one undrafted rookie on their roster as they cut down to the 53-man limit this week. Indeed, 22 of 32 teams did keep at least one undrafted rookie, while another 4 kept at least one on injured reserve. Tampa Bay led the way keeping 6 undrafted rookies on the roster, while Tennessee, Denver, and Green Bay retained 4 each and Arizona, Miami, and Minnesota kept three each. The Dolphins, in fact, kept more undrafted rookies than draft picks this year as the Dolphins released two of their only four picks from the 2023 draft this week. Here is the full list of undrafted rookies that are still with their respective team.

One thing that kind of jumps out about this year’s undrafted rookie class is that a lot of the guys that survived this week’s cuts weren’t necessarily all that highly rated even after the draft. Of the 50 or so UDFAs who made a roster this week, for example, only four were among the top 10 players on our ranking of the top undrafted players following the draft. The other thing that kind of jumps out is the fact that specialists appear to be somewhat over-represented among undrafted rookie free agents. Indeed, of the 51, 6 were specialist including three punters, 2 long snappers and one PK. In fact, both the kickers that New Orleans kept on their roster are undrafted rookie free agents including P Lou Hedley and PK Blake Grupe.