Which NFL team gets the most from undrafted college free agents?
August 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Denver Broncos offensive tackle Alex Palczewski (63) during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images The Denver Broncos had two undrafted free agent starters (eight GS or more) in 2025, Alex Singleton and Alex Palczewski. The Broncos have had a large number of UDFA starters over the past 15 seasons – 59 instances of an undrafted player starting for the team from 2011-2025.
Of course some of these instances are the same player being a starter in multiple seasons like Chris Harris Jr, Tim Patrick, Todd Davis or Alex Singleton. The Broncos had the second most starter-years in the NFL from UDFAs with only one fewer than the Patriots. It used to be a rarity that a team would have zero UDFA starters, but there were 6 teams that didn’t have an undrafted starter in 2025.
In 2015 and 2016 EVERY NFL team had a least one. Buffalo had the least with only 29. The most undrafted starters was nine by the 2023 Titans.
The 2016 Seahawks had eight. The are seven instances of a team having seven, including the 2019 and 2020 Broncos. Those two teams are the only teams with back-to-back sevens.
Three teams went two seasons in a row without having a UDFA starter. The most for any season in this study was 2017 when the Broncos had six and there were 106 in the NFL. The six for the Broncos in 2017 were: CJ Anderson, CHJ, Darian Stewart, Todd Davis, Ronald Leary, and Shaq Barrett (who recently UNretired from the NFL).