2020 NFL Draft Dynasty Review: The UDFAs

Ken Kelly Posted On May 1, 2020

The 2020 NFL Draft has come and gone and many rookie drafts are either underway or complete. For deeper leagues, it’s really important to keep an eye on the undrafted free agents to see where they land. While most of these players will flame out, never get a legitimate chance at success or find themselves buried on a depth chart or on a practice squad, consider this list of stars who went undrafted:

Rod Smith
Priest Holmes
Tony Romo
Wes Welker
Antonio Gates
Phillip Lindsay
Arian Foster
Kurt Warner

While the success rate of these players having even a starter-level season in fantasy leagues is less than 10%, it’s important to keep your watch lists active or even roster some of these deep sleepers. After all, nabbing one of these undrafted prospects and actually seeing them hit is one of the most exciting things about dynasty leagues.

With all that in mind, let’s go through each division and highlight anyone who may stand out early on in the process. These lists are obviously very active, but this what we’ve uncovered about the signings so far.

AFC East

Buffalo Bills

Antonio Williams, RB, North Carolina
Reggie Gilliam, RB Toledo

Miami Dolphins

Kirk Merritt, WR, Arkansas State
Matt Cole, WR, McKendree University

New England Patriots

J’Mar Smith, QB, Louisiana Tech
Will Hastings, WR, Auburn
Rashod Berry, TE, Ohio State
Sean Riley, WR, Syracuse
J.J. Taylor, RB, Arizona
Isaiah Zuber, WR, Mississippi State

New York Jets

Lawrence Cager, WR, Georgia
George Campbell, WR, West Virginia

I like Cager’s chances the best from this division. He’s a big target at 6’5″ and has battled a ton of injuries throughout his career. Had he been healthy, there’s no doubt he would have been drafted. The Jets really need receivers and he could make a run at a roster spot. Antonio Williams was once a top-ten running back recruit of Ohio State’s, but his career just never really materialized. JJ Taylor isn’t the biggest back, but he has a shot with New England as well.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

Tyler Huntley, QB, Utah
Eli Wolf, TE, Georgia
Jacob Breeland, TE, Oregon
Chauncey Rivers, RB, Mississippi State
Bronson Steiner, RB, Kennesaw State
Ty’Son Williams, RB, BYU
Michael Dereus, WR, Georgetown
Jaylon Moore, WR, Tennessee-Martin

Cincinnati Bengals

Devwah Whaley, Arkansas, RB
Scotty Washington, WR, Wake Forest

Cleveland Browns

Kevin Davidson, QB, Princeton
Benny LeMay, RB, Charlotte
Brian Herrien, RB, Georgia
Nate Wieting , TE, Iowa
Troy Brown, WR, Colorado

Pittsburgh Steelers

No offensive players

With a possible holdout looming for Joe Mixon, I could see Devwah Whaley making a run at the Bengals roster. Bennie Lemay could also have a shot at making the Browns team after a solid career at Charlotte. With Kareem Hunt possibly only around one more season with the Browns, you could see a possible path for a running back on that roster. Jacob Breeland could be a good replacement for Hayden Hurst in Baltimore.

AFC South

Houston Texans

Dylan Stapleton, TE, James Madison
Scottie Phillips, RB, Ole Miss
Tyler Simmons, WR, Georgia

Indianapolis Colts

Demichael Harris, WR, Southern Miss

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tavien Feaster, RB, South Carolina
Marvelle Ross, WR, Notre Dame College
James Robinson, RB, Illinois State
Josh Hammond, WR, Baylor
Ben Ellefson, TE, North Dakota State
Nate Cottrell, RB, Georgia

Tennessee Titans

Mason Kinsey, WR, Berry College (Division III)
Nick Westbrook, WR, Indiana
Cameron Scarlett, RB, Stanford
Kyle Williams, WR, Arizona State
Kristian Wilkerson, WR, Southeast Missouri
Tommy Hudson, TE, Arizona State

I’m a sucker for SEC running backs who sign undrafted free agent contracts. This division has two of them with Scottie Phillips (Houston) and Tavien Feaster (Jacksonville). Neither player had a dominant year, but both have a chance on rosters with unsettled running back situations. The flameout chance is high, but the capital used to acquire anyone on this list is next to nothing and that makes them both shot-worthy.

AFC West

Denver Broncos

Riley Neal, QB, Vanderbilt
Zimari Manning, WR, Tarleton State
Levante Bellamy, RB, Western Michigan
Kendall Hinton, WR, Wake Forest

Las Vegas Raiders

Nick Bowers, TE, Penn State
George Mariner, WR, Utah State

Los Angeles Chargers

Darius Bradwell, RB, Tulane.
Jeff Cotton, WR, Idaho.
Jared Rice, TE, Fresno State
Ryan Roberts, T, Florida State
Dalton Schoen, WR, Kansas State

Kansas City Chiefs

Kalija Lipscomb, WR, Vanderbilt
Cody White, WR, Michigan State
Aleva Hifo, WR, BYU

The player who stands out to me within this group is clearly Kalija Lipscomb. The Chiefs paid $110,000 in guaranteed money to sign him, which is huge for a UDFA. They also have his former quarterback (Kyle Shurmur) on the roster from last season. Lipscomb didn’t have a great season, but the Chiefs clearly want to take a look.

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

Rico Dowdle, RB, South Carolina
Stephen Guidry, WR, Mississippi State
Sean McKeon, TE, Michigan
Sewo Oloniula, RB, TCU
Aaron Parker, WR, Rhode Island

New York Giants

Binjimen Victor, WR, Ohio State
Austin Mack, WR, Ohio State
Derrick Dillon, WR, LSU
Javon Leake, RB, Maryland
Rysen John, WR/TE, Simon Fraser
Kyle Markway, TE, South Carolina

Philadelphia Eagles

Noah Togiai, TE, Oregon State
Manasseh Bailey, WR, Morgan State
Adrian Killins, RB, UCF
Michael Warren, RB, Cincinnati
Khalil Tate, QB, Arizona

Washington Redskins

Thaddeus Moss, TE, LSU
Steven Montez, QB, Colorado
Isaiah Wright, WR, Temple
Johnathan Johnson, WR, Missouri

I was really hoping Rico Dowdle would land with a team where had a better chance to make a roster – Dallas isn’t it. Javon Leake is interesting, though the Giants also don’t have a great need at the moment. Thaddeus Moss chose a good place to go as Washington has a very unsettled depth chart at tight end. He’s nowhere near the athlete his Dad is, but Moss is a decent dart throw. Michael Warren is another name to watch from this list. Steven Montez landed in a good spot, but it’s hard to say if he’s really an NFL-level player.

NFC North

Chicago Bears

Ahmad Wagner, WR, Kentucky
Artavis Pierce, RB, Oregon State

Detroit Lions

Hunter Bryant, TE, Washington

Green Bay Packers

Darrell Stewart, WR, Michigan State
Jordan Jones, TE, Prairie View
Patrick Taylor, RB, Memphis

Minnesota Vikings

Quartney Davis, WR, Texas A&M
Dan Chisena, WR, Penn State
Nakia Griffin-Stewart, TE, Pittsburgh

I was surprised Quartney Davis went undrafted. He should have a chance in Minnesota. To me, the gem in this division is Hunter Bryant, whose balky knees kept him from being taken. He should have stayed in school, but few tight ends in this class have the pure athleticism he possesses when he’s healthy. I also like what I’m hearing about Artavis Pierce with the Bears and Darrell Stewart with the Packers.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons

Chris Rowland, WR, Tennessee State.
Caleb Repp, TE, Utah State
Jared Pinkney, TE, Vanderbilt
Juwan Green, WR, Albany
Jalen McCleskey, WR, Tulane

Carolina Panthers

Cam Sutton, TE, Fresno State
Rodney Smith, RB, Minnesota
TreVonate Heights, WR, TCU
Omar Bayless, WR, Arkansas State
Giovanni Ricci, TE, Western Michigan

New Orleans Saints

Juwan Johnson, WR, Oregon
Marquez Callaway, WR, Tennessee
Tony Jones Jr., RB, Notre Dame

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Reid Sinnett, QB, San Diego
John Hurst, WR, West Georgia
Josh Pearson, WR, Jacksonville State
Travis Jonsen, WR, Montana State

No names on this page just jump out at me and scream “sleeper,” but you have to keep an eye on any receiver for the Saints. They traded their entire third day of draft picks to jump up and get Adam Trautman, so they don’t have nearly as many prospects to look at. Callaway has good special teams ability and that gives him a chance as well.

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals

Jonathan Ward, RB, Central Michigan
Ryan Becker, TE, SMU
Jojo Ward, WR, Hawaii
Shane Leatherbury, WR, Towson
Rashad Medaris, WR, Cincinnati
Sirgeo Hoffman, RB, Portland State
Parker Houston, TE, San Diego State
Jermiah Braswell, WR, Youngstown State

Los Angeles Rams

Bryce Perkins, QB, Virginia
Josh Love, QB, San Jose State
Easop Winston, WR, Washington State
Earnest Edwards, WR, Maine
Brandon Polk, WR, James Madison
JJ Koski, WR, Cal Poly
Trishton Jackson, WR, Syracuse
James Gilbert, RB, Kansas State

San Francisco 49ers

JaMycal Hasty, RB, Baylor
Chris Finke, WR, Notre Dame
Chase Harrell, TE, Arkansas
Broc Rutter, QB, North Central
Salvon Ahmed, RB, Washington

Seattle Seahawks

Anthony Gordon, QB, Washington State
Anthony Jones, RB, FIU
Seth Dawkins, WR, Louisville
Tyler Mabry, TE, Maryland

San Francisco and Seattle are both places you just can’t ignore for running backs. Hasty, Ahmed and Jones all have a chance just based on the history of these two coaches and how interchangeable they view the position. Trishton Jackson should have been drafted. He’s buried with the Rams, but has some ability.

Let us know who stands out to you in the comments below! Who would you throw a dart at?

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK