Best UDFA for Every Team 2023 NFL Draft: NFC East

Being drafted is not a prerequisite for greatness in the NFL.  While the three days of the NFL draft are when many NFL players take their first step into the league, many never hear their names called.  Depending on the year, roughly 30% of the players making up 53-man rosters are undrafted free agents – or UDFA for short. 

When people think of UDFA, they usually think of Kurt Warner, James Harrison, and Antonio Gates.  In today’s NFL, a lot of key producers were once UDFAs.  Shaquil Barrett, Austin Ekeler, JC Jackson, Kenny Moore, and Justin Tucker are all elite NFL talents that never heard their names called on draft day.  So, which UDFA from the 2023 NFL draft should we be looking out for to be impact players that outperform their draft status? 

Let’s take a look at each team’s best signings to identify those who might be players that make people scratch their heads at the thought of how they went undrafted.

Check out the previous articles in this series here:

NFC West

NFC North

NFC South

Best UDFA for Every Team 2023 NFL Draft: NFC East

New York Giants

The New York Giants had one of the lighter groups of UDFAs in the league this year, especially in terms of how many players they brought in that were high on my radar.  The two names that stood out the most to me were Habakkuk Baldonado and Bryce Ford-Wheaton.  Habakkuk Baldonado is a DL from Pitt that came overseas from Rome, Italy.

Baldonado is an interesting prospect.  He played football in Italy before coming to the US for one year of high school.  He then committed to Pitt University.  He came in as a very raw but athletically gifted player.  He saw a lot of improvement and showed a lot of promise during his Junior season accumulating nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

However, he missed a few games with injuries and was markedly less productive in the games he did play during his senior season.  Baldonado did, however, make some noise during the East-West Shrine Bowl, where he looked impressive against his draft-eligible peers.  He can provide depth for the Giants in a position of need while providing plenty of reason to hope and believe in what he could develop into.

While Baldonado is someone that could very well end up being the Giants’ best UDFA pickup of 2023 when looking back on this group, I believe that currently, West Virginia WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton is the player worth being excited about the most.  Avid draft followers will likely be very familiar with the 6’3 WR due to his exceedingly high RAS score from the NFL combine.  However, his performances vs. Pitt in the season-opener in 2023 and the following week vs. Kansas first sparked my interest.  The film of Ford-Wheaton especially blew me away in the Pitt game.  His impact was everywhere in that game. 

Between finding space in coverage and catching 50/50 balls that JT Daniels honestly had no business throwing, it felt like his name was constantly being called.  Ford-Wheaton shouldn’t be expected to make an impact right away.  He’s lengthy but very thin and wiry.  He would benefit from adding some mass to his frame.  However, he has the height, speed, and ball skills of someone that could become a truly dominant force if developed correctly.  He’s someone I really hope sticks either here or somewhere else because he could be a special player someday.

 

Dallas Cowboys

I’m a fan of the way the Dallas Cowboys handled their draft class.  They were very practical and took players like Mazi Smith, Demarvion Overshown, etc. that are thought of as players with lower ceilings but provide instant help for a team that clearly wants to contend right now.  Their UDFA group has an overall similar feel to it.  I love the addition of Hunter Luepke.

The FB out of NDSU should be an instant boost to special teams and give the team the option of running a lot more 12 and 22 personnel.  TJ Bass and Earl Bostic Jr should both be serviceable backups on the OL if called upon as well.  Durrell Johnson of Liberty and Isaiah Land of Florida A&M are both ultra-productive small-school EDGE players that have the potential to make a roster.

Tyrus Wheat would, however, have to be my runner-up for the best Cowboys UDFA signing.  Wheat is a versatile player out of Mississippi St that can line up at EDGE or off-ball LB.  He should fit in well in the Cowboys’ defense.  Wheat would likely be able to play a role similar to Micah Parsons where there is the ability to drop in coverage or come off the EDGE.  No, I am not equating his talent to Parsons, but his skill set should allow him to fit into a role like that, just don’t expect Parsons-level production.

Fresno St WR Jalen Moreno-Cropper is my pick for the best UDFA signing by the Cowboys this year.  Moreno-Cropper is a quick and sudden route-runner whose abilities should transition to being able to play in the slot and out wide in the NFL.  Over the past two seasons, Moreno-Cropper accumulated 1,985 yards and 16 touchdowns receiving.

He is a genuine deep-ball threat that I believe can compete right away with players like Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin for the WR4 spot on the Cowboys.  Moreno-Cropper was productive, had great film, and had a very good showing at the East-West Shrine Bowl this year as well.  I think he could become a future secondary threat behind Ceedee Lamb for the Cowboys in the not-so-distant future.

 

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles were able to hold onto CBs James Bradberry and Darius Slay for at least another season.  However, they still needed to add talented youth to their secondary if they wanted to be contenders in the NFC for the foreseeable future.  They did just that in the 2023 NFL draft.  Sydney Brown has a very good shot to start or at least get a lot of reps immediately for Philly. 

Kelee Ringo is also someone that could develop into a talented S or CB.  This trend is something that continued in the UDFA signings for the Eagles.  LSU CB Mekhi Garner is someone whose versatility to possibly play CB, or S could help the Eagles a lot.  However, the best UDFA for the Eagles is Alabama CB Eli Ricks, and it isn’t a close competition. 

Ricks was a standout player for LSU before transferring to Bama.  As a true Freshman, Ricks even looked pretty good against Heisman winner DeVonta Smith.  Ricks has the height, coverage ability, and ball skills of a day two draft pick.  However, he wasn’t in Alabama’s starting lineup until late in the season, and there is a lot of talk that he’d been struggling with a back issue. 

Also, he doesn’t have anywhere near elite speed, which might scare off some coaching staffs.  Ricks, however, has proven himself against top WR talent early in his college football career.  He is someone that can be a very good starting corner in Philly if he can remain healthy.  Eagles fans should be excited about this pickup.  I would like to add a couple of WRs picked up by the Eagles as some honorable mentions that I think can compete for targets behind AJ Brown and DaVonta Smith.

Jadon Haselwood is an interesting player out of Arkansas.  He is shifty in open space and has a large frame to throw to.  However, he isn’t able to consistently create separation.  So, his usage might come mostly in screens or jet sweeps.  Joseph Ngata dealt with a lot of injuries during his time at Clemson.  However, he has shown flashes of what made him a five-star recruit out of high school.  Eagles fans should know his name but keep their expectations low until he can show himself to be more consistently healthy. 

 

Washington Commanders

 The Commanders have three UDFA signings that I liked this year.  Illinois S Kendall Smith will join his drafted teammate Jartavius Martin in the Commander’s secondary.  Smith is a rangy safety with great hands and instincts that was initially recruited as a WR.  He played mostly special teams behind Kerby Joseph for most of his college career. 

Smith started only one season but had five interceptions in that one season.  He has a lot of traits that you love, but his poor angles taken on ball carriers, meager production vs the run game, and lack of experience kept him from getting drafted.  Smith is likely an early special teams player, but he could develop into a real playmaker for the Commanders.  Penn St WR Mitchell Tinsley is someone that transferred up from lower levels of competition but did not see great statistical success. 

However, his lack of production was more about QB play and situation than talent.  Tinsley is someone that caught my eye, especially for his ability to consistently catch with his hands instead of his body.  He doesn’t drop a lot of balls and adds a lot of room for his QB to deliver him the ball by being so good with the ball away from his body.  He’s someone that can potentially add some needed depth to the Commanders’ WR room.

The best UDFA signing for the Commanders, however, is Kazmeir Allen.  Allen is a WR from UCLA that began his college career as a running back.  He transitioned to WR and also returned kicks during his final two seasons at UCLA.  Allen is a gadget player, if ever there was one.  He is simply electric with the ball in his hands.

He doesn’t have the consistent ability to create separation, however, so you may need to generate him touches in creative ways.  This past season, he even went back to RB against Arizona St when Charbonnet was down with an injury, where Allen was able to rush for 137 yards on only 11 carries.  He, fortunately, found himself in a great place that should be able to utilize his skillset.  He should be able to learn from Curtis Samuel, that played a similar kind of role early on in his career.

Also, new OC Eric Bieniemy is someone that should have no issue finding creative ways to utilize Allen, given the way the Chiefs’ offense operated during his time there with Andy Reid.  Allen looks to be an electric returner that should help open up the offense for the Commanders, being a constant big-play threat that can be utilized in several different ways on offense.  He might not be a guy you expect to play like a number one WR, but his ability with the ball in his hands will have positive impacts on this offense that will not go unnoticed.