Dynasty Fantasy Football: Surprise Undrafted Players in the 2023 NFL Draft

Every year, there are players who the dynasty community loved pre-draft who go undrafted in the NFL Draft. I believe dynasty managers improve yearly with their rookie evaluations, but sometimes, the NFL doesn’t agree with us. I wrote this article last year, covering Justyn Ross, Zonovan Knight, Jalen Wydermyer, and Kennedy Brooks.

Of course, most of those players did nothing, but Knight had some fantasy relevance as a rookie. Therefore, it’s important to note not to expect much from these UDFAs, but to keep them on our radars, as there are always a few who become relevant each year. Interestingly, though, there were no big surprises at quarterback, wide receiver, or tight end this year. Pretty much every player on my radar at those positions actually went off the board in the NFL Draft. But let’s jump into four running backs no NFL team bothered to select.

Sean Tucker, RB TB

Of all the undrafted players, Tucker is the only true shock. Throughout the pre-draft process, he was a consensus second-round dynasty rookie pick, slotting in 14th overall in February, 13th overall in March, and 18th overall in April. There were some concerns that he would fall to day three due to his lack of NFL Combine numbers and a potential heart issue, but I never imagined he could go undrafted.

Tucker had an excellent career at Syracuse, where he hit the ground running as a true freshman in 2020.

Chart courtesy of Sports Reference CFB.

He served as the workhorse back that year, taking more than three times the carries of anyone else on the roster. Unfortunately, he only managed 4.6 yards per carry and failed to participate much in the passing game. But considering he was a true freshman, he played exceptionally well in 2020.

Then in 2021, he fully blossomed. Syracuse transitioned to a running quarterback in Garrett Shrader, who took 173 carries and scored 14 rushing touchdowns. But Tucker took essentially all the running back carries, as no other running back had more than 17 carries. He also saw added involvement in the passing game and scored 14 total touchdowns.

However, despite his strong 2021, his 2022 performance may have slightly dropped his draft stock. He fell to 5.1 YPC with fewer carries than in 2021 in the same number of games played. But he made up for that regression on the ground with 36 receptions, which is incredibly impressive for a college running back. Even though he had two seasons of eligibility left, he declared for the NFL Draft, where he profiled as a day two pick.

Everything went wrong for Tucker after he declared, though. First, he couldn’t do drills in the NFL Combine after he didn’t receive medical clearance. Then, he didn’t participate in Syracuse’s regular pro day for the same reason before having his own pro day on April 24th, just before the NFL Draft. Eventually, news came out that Tucker had a heart issue that caused most NFL teams to remove him from their draft boards.