How Cowboys built and maintained an advantage in signing undrafted free agents

Talent acquisition does not end with the draft - undrafted free agency is a critical part of the process.

The Cowboys currently have 74 players on their roster, a number that includes eight players acquired via free agency, two acquired via trade, and 10 players signed to reserve/future contracts.

That leaves the Cowboys with 16 open spots on their offseason roster. The Cowboys currently have 10 picks in the NFL draft, which should bring their roster size to 84 players, That number, coupled with possible coming releases among their reserve/future players (all but one of which had been on the practice squad last year), leaves ample room to bring in undrafted free agents after the draft.

There are about 6,000 draft-eligible players per year. Only 257 of those will actually get drafted this year. All other players sit through three days of the draft and don’t hear their names called. Some are crushed at not being selected, some didn’t expect to be selected in the first place, but all end up in the pool of undrafted free agents (UDFA) that’s available to teams immediately after the draft.

“Every time we sign those 15 to 20 [UDFA] guys, we sign them from our draft board.” - Stephen Jones

If you’re an UDFA, one of the better teams to sign with is Dallas. 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:

• 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
• Seven former UDFAs (Brandon Aubrey, Markquese Bell, Princeton Fant, Jalen Moreno-Cropper, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Juanyeh Thomas, Tyrus Wheat) all saw playing time
• Two former UDFAs (TE John Stephens, OT Earl Bostick) spent the season on IR

That’s quite a list, but it doesn’t stop there. More recently, former Cowboys UDFAs like Charvarious Ward (KC) or Peyton Hendershot (KC) found their way to Super Bowl rings with other teams after signing their first NFL contract as an UDFA with the Dallas Cowboys. WR Danny Amendola and QB Matt Moore are older examples of players that buil a career elsewhere after initially signing in Dallas. The Cowboys have historically taken on board more UDFAs than many other teams, and have been historically more successful than most other franchises at developing these UDFAs.

Last year, the Cowboys signed 12 rookie UDFAs after the draft. Three of them are still with the Cowboys and three more are currently on the roster of another NFL team. That’s 50% of the UDFA class still in the NFL. Here’s an overview of last year’s UDFA class:

The Cowboys’ history with UDFAs is not just a bit of nice-to-know trivia shared with you on a lazy Sunday morning....