The Dallas Cowboys call the undrafted free agents they sign after the draft their “second draft”, and not just because they think it’s a funny name for a bunch of no-name camp bodies they sign to fill up the roster.
They call it their second draft because the Cowboys don’t allow their scouts to “come off grade” after the draft. If they have a grade on a guy before the draft, they have to stick with it after the draft. Which means that after the draft, they try and sign every guy still left on their draft board, as the Cowboys feel those players effectively amount to extra draft picks.
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And the Cowboys have traditionally done quite well with this approach. Everybody knows how the Cowboys developed UDFAs like Tony Romo and Miles Austin into NFL superstars, but there are many more UDFAs on the roster in Dallas. Last year alone:
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10 former UDFAs started at least one game for the Cowboys: Terence Steele (17 starts), Rico Dowdle (15), Cooper Rush (8), Brock Hoffman (7), Hunter Luepke (4), T.J. Bass (3), Josh Butler (3), and Kavontae Turpin (2) all started at least one game for the Cowboys
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7 former UDFAs (Brandon Aubrey, Markquese Bell, Princeton Fant, Jalen Moreno-Cropper, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Juanyeh Thomas, Tyrus Wheat) all saw playing time
Jon Machota of The Athletic reports that in the post-draft press conference, Stephen Jones said the Cowboys were “fired up” to have added five college free agents who were on their draft board. Jones did not share the names of those players.
“That’s huge,” [Stephen Jones] added. “One of them was at the top of our board at the end of the draft. Those things, obviously they’re up there for a reason. We think a lot of them, and that’s important. We take a lot of pride in the college free agency after the draft as well. We think that’s the second draft, and there’s a lot of good players we’ve gotten that weren’t drafted that came here as college free agents and did really well.”
In a recent article here on Blogging The Boys, we looked at how the Cowboys have built and maintained an advantage in signing undrafted free agents and saw that the team had consistently been one of the top spenders in the league on UDFAs, and not just recently.
Over the last three years the Cowboys had one UDFA player each year that made more than $200,000 in total guarantees (signing bonus + guarantees) for signing with the Cowboys.
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2022: S Marquese Bell, $215,000
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2023: OT Earl Bostick, $220,000
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2024: TE Brevyn Spann-Ford, $245,000
This year, per Todd Archer, the Cowboys have, not one, but two players eclipsing $250K:
|
2025 UDFA Class |
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|
Player |
POS |
College |
Guarantee |
Signing Bonus |
Total GTD |
|
Alijah Clark |
DB |
Syracuse |
$234,000 |
$25,000 |
$259,000 |
|
Justin Barron |
LB |
Syracuse |
$234,000 |
$20,000 |
$254,000 |
|
Mike Smith Jr. |
DB |
Eastern Kentucky |
$175,000 |
$15,000 |
$190,000 |
|
Rivaldo Fairweather |
TE |
Auburn |
$150,000 |
$15,000 |
$165,000 |
|
Zion Childress |
DB |
Kentucky |
$125,000 |
$10,000 |
$135,000 |
|
Tyler Neville |
TE |
Virginia |
$100,000 |
$10,000 |
$110,000 |
|
Josh Kelly |
WR |
Texas Tech |
$60,000 |
$7,500 |
$67,500 |
|
Bruce Harmon |
DB |
Stephen F. Austin |
$35,000 |
$5,000 |
$40,000 |
|
Traeshon Holden |
WR |
Oregon |
– – |
$3,000 |
$3,000 |
|
Total |
$1,113,000 |
$110,500 |
$1223,500 |
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Why $234,000 for Alijah Clark and Justin Barron? Todd Archer explains:
The $234,000 guarantee is what a player would make on a practice squad this season.
We may never find out who the five college free agents are who were left on the Cowboys’ draft board, but the table above gives us a pretty good idea. And it might also give you a leg up as you try to figure out who your pet cat (late-round or undrafted rookie) will be this year.
The Cowboys need all the help they can get to have a successful 2025 season, and the 2025 UDFA class could well be part of that. Judging by the amount of money the Cowboys have spent on their UDFA players this year, they are banking on it.
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