Chiefs Sign 17-Man UDFA Class
The rich got richer last week when the winners of the last two Super Bowls drafted seven players, with the first three selections joining the team’s well-established offense. The Chiefs expanded their rookie class to 24 players by signing these 17 undrafted free agents:
- Emani Bailey, RB (TCU)
- Miles Battle, CB (Utah)
- Swayze Bozeman, LB (Southern Mississippi)
- Phillip Brooks, WR (Kansas State)
- Reggie Brown, WR (James Madison)
- Baylor Cupp, TE (Texas Tech)
- Ethan Driskell, T (Marshall)
- Curtis Jacobs, LB (Penn State)
- Fabien Lovett, DT (Florida State)
- Griffin McDowell, T (Tennessee-Chattanooga)
- McKade Mettauer, G (Oklahoma)
- Derrick Miller, CB (Kent State)
- Ryan Rehkow, P (BYU)
- Christian Roland-Wallace, CB (USC)
- Carson Steele, RB (UCLA)
- Nick Torres, G (Villanova)
- Luquay Washington, LB (Central Connecticut State)
The Chiefs return their top three rushers in Isiah Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and La’Mical Perine, but after finishing a middling 19th in the league in rushing yards, Kansas City may be taking some flyers on potential upgrades at the backup positions behind Pacheco. Bailey comes in after two seasons at Louisiana and two seasons at TCU. At each school he had a season in which he scored eight touchdowns, and he racked up 1,209 rushing yards in 2023. Steele arrives after two years at Ball State and one at UCLA. He led his team in rushing yards all three seasons and was first-team All-MAC in 2022 after leading the conference with 1,556 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Driskell was a surprising prospect to end up undrafted. He’s raw and needs NFL coaching to develop a role with the Chiefs, but his towering 6-foot-8 frame was expected to land him somewhere in the fifth or sixth round of the draft. Lovett was likewise expected to land in the fifth or sixth round but slipped out to an undrafted position unexpectedly. He has the ability to flash as a rotational defensive lineman, but a lack of consistency could cost him a spot on the 53-man roster.
After trading away L’Jarius Sneed in the offseason and drafting Kamal Hadden in the sixth round out of Tennessee, the Chiefs bring in three more prospects including Roland-Wallace. Roland-Wallace spent his final season with the Trojans after four years as a starter at Arizona. His quick twitch helped him rack up four interceptions and 29 passes defensed in college.
Even Rehkow was expected to get drafted after four years with the Cougars. The four-year punter saw his punting duties skyrocket in 2023 as BYU’s offense struggled mightily in their move to the Big 12.
Jets Sign 17 UDFA Rookies
The first five of the Jets’ seven draft picks last week focused on the offensive side of the ball. Luckily, they were able to add a number of defensive rookies who fell out of the draft as undrafted free agents. Here are the 17 players heading to New York as UDFAs:
- Shemar Bartholomew, CB (Georgia Southern)
- Al Blades Jr., S (Duke)
- Jimmy Ciarlo, LB (Army)
- Tyler Harrell, WR (Miami)
- Peewee Jarrett, QB (West Florida)
- Tre Jenkins, LB (San Jose State)
- Tyreek Johnson, DE (South Carolina)
- Myles Jones, CB (Duke)
- Brady Latham, G (Arkansas)
- Braiden McGregor, DE (Michigan)
- Jarius Monroe, S (Tulane)
- Marcus Riley, WR (Florida A&M)
- Lincoln Sefcik, TE (South Alabama)
- Jackson Sirmon, LB (California)
- Leonard Taylor, DT (Miami)
- Willie Tyler, T (Louisville)
- Eric Watts, DT (Connecticut)
Latham, a four-year starter for the Razorbacks spent nearly all of his time as a left guard at the collegiate level. His father was an All-Conference center for Oklahoma back in the 1980’s, and some NFL teams thought Latham had potential to follow his father’s footsteps as a center at the next level.
Many saw McGregor as a draft-and-develop prospect that could go on Day 3 of the draft, but instead the 22-year-old leaves Ann Arbor as an undrafted free agent. He’s long, fast, and explosive but will need to get coached up in order to turn those attributes into starting potential.
Taylor falling out of the draft altogether was one of the more surprising outcomes from last weekend. A former 5-star recruit for the Hurricanes, Taylor racked up five sacks and 20.0 tackles for loss in his first two seasons. A disappointing junior year had teams questioning whether the lack of production came from discipline on the field or perhaps an inability to buy-in. Still, the raw talent available to Taylor was thought to warrant at least an early-Day 3 selection. Instead, he falls to the Jets, where he could find rotational playing time behind two excellent role models in Javon Kinlaw and Quinnen Williams.
Taylor is joined in New York by two former teammates who spent time in the transfer portal. Harrell only spent one year in Coral Gables after transferring from Alabama, where he also spent only one season. A burner with track experience, Harrell showed the most potential during his final year at Louisville in 2021, when he averaged 29.1 yards per catch and caught six touchdowns. Blades spent his final year of eligibility at Duke but played his first four seasons at Miami. He had two strong seasons for the Hurricanes in 2019 and 2020, nabbing four interceptions and 13 passes defensed, but was quiet the following two years until he transferred to Durham, where he led the Blue Devils in passes defensed with 10 in 2023.
No Expected Restrictions For Jets QB Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers‘ debut playing for any team other than the Packers last year could not have gone any worse, ending only four snaps into the Jets’ season-opener with a torn Achilles tendon. What followed was weeks and weeks of will-he-won’t-he for a 2023 comeback. 
In the end, despite several months of speculation on whether or not Rodgers would succeed in rushing back from what most consider to be a season-ending injury, Rodgers would be resigned to the sideline for the remainder of the 2023 season. He had seemingly proven his point, improving his health well enough to be activated off of injured reserve, but the coaching staff opted not to play him, keeping future seasons in mind.
That future season now appears on the horizon. With phase three of the offseason, consisting of 10 organized team activities practices, starting in two weeks, Rodgers is reportedly expected to come in with no restrictions, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Head coach Robert Saleh expanded on that report, saying, “Once phase three hits, we’re not anticipating any restrictions from what we can and can’t do with him.”
In addition, Cimini reports that rookie fifth-round pick Jordan Travis won’t be ready as soon but should be healthy enough to participate by training camp. The backup quarterback out of Florida State is coming off a brutal ankle injury that many believe cost the Seminoles a spot in the College Football Playoff last year.
Luckily, the team isn’t relying on Travis to be ready as a rookie. After last year’s disaster and subsequent quarterback struggles, the team signed a major improvement at backup quarterback in veteran Tyrod Taylor. Taylor will likely join Rodgers for OTAs, as will undrafted rookie Peewee Jarrett out of West Florida who became the first Argonauts quarterback in school history to throw for over 5,000 yards and rush for over 1,000 yards. Those three arms should be plenty until Travis can join the group for training camp later in the summer.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/3/24
Our first draft pick signings post for rookies taken in the third round or later:
Green Bay Packers
- QB Michael Pratt (seventh round, Tulane)
- CB Kalen King (seventh round, Penn State)
Philadelphia Eagles
- WR Johnny Wilson (sixth round, Florida State)
Pratt was the final of 11 quarterbacks taken in the 2024 NFL Draft last week. A four-year starter for the Green Wave, Pratt was named first-team All-AAC and the AAC Offensive Player of the year in 2023, despite failing to recreate his breakout numbers from 2022 of 27 passing touchdowns to only five interceptions with 10 more scores on the ground. He’ll compete with last year’s fifth-round pick, Sean Clifford, and Alex McGough for backup duties behind Jordan Love.
King was a two-year starter for the Nittany Lions, forgoing his senior year of football for the NFL draft. He failed to reach the success of his sophomore season, in which he tallied 21 passes defensed and three interceptions, but showed enough as a junior to warrant a late-round selection. He’s listed by the Packers as a cornerback but has the potential to add to the entire secondary’s depth as many teams saw him as a safety at the next level.
Wilson was one of two transfer wide receivers to lead the Seminoles’ offense last year, spending his first two years at Arizona State before transferring to Tallahassee. Like the two players above, his best season came in 2022, when he caught 43 balls for 897 yards and five touchdowns. After the arrival of Bills new wideout Keon Coleman last year, Wilson’s contributions lessened to 41-617-2. Wilson provides the Eagles with a massive 6-foot-6, 231-pound frame that he doesn’t always play up to but could create a number of mismatches with at the NFL level. Some thought Wilson may be a tight end as a pro, but Philadelphia has plenty of depth at the position, which could allow them to try and continue developing Wilson as a receiver as a rookie.
Eagles Sign Seven UDFA Rookies
After addressing several positions of need in their nine-man draft class, the Eagles have expanded their rookie class to 16 men. The seven undrafted rookie free agents joining the drafted players are:
- Gottlieb Ayedze, T (Maryland)
- McCallan Castles, TE (Tennessee)
- Anim Dankwah, T (Howard)
- Gabe Hall, DT (Baylor)
- Kendall Milton, RB (Georgia)
- Andre’ Sam, S (LSU)
- Laekin Vakalahi, T (Australia)*
*Roster exemption for International Player Pathway Program
Just like they were able to do with many of their draft picks, the Eagles were able to add some major value throughout the undrafted free agent class. Tackle was a position of need that the Eagles were unable to address through the draft, though they did sign former Jets first-round tackle Mekhi Becton to come in as a swing tackle last weekend. Here, they add three more young prospects to the position in Ayedze, Dankwah, and Vakalahi.
All three represent giant, inexperienced projects to the position room. Dankwah, 6-foot-8, 349 pounds, was selected to the All-MEAC first team in each of the last two years despite making only five starts in 2022. The Canada-native is not alone as an international addition as Vakalahi, 6-foot-5, 318 pounds, comes from Brisbane, Australia. Despite zero athletic experience in the past two years as he completed his mission service in Wellington, New Zealand, Vakalahi was discovered when Eagles international scout Chris Naeole walked past Vakalahi’s father, also a large man, while Vakalahi’s parents were vacationing in Hawai’i.
Castles caught five touchdowns for the Volunteers as a graduate transfer after time at both Cal and UC Davis. He was mainly an in-line blocker at Tennessee, but with a 6-foot-4, 244 pound frame and a basketball background, Castles could certainly find a place on an NFL roster if he improves his abilities as a receiver.
It was a surprise to see Hall go undrafted. Ranked by Dane Brugler of The Athletic as the 11th-best defensive tackle and a projected fourth-round pick, Hall somehow fell out of all seven rounds. He doesn’t play with a ton of consistency but could prove impactful as a rotational player should he make the 53-man roster.
Though the Bulldogs were led in rushing yards by Daijun Edwards (880), Milton wasn’t far behind (790) and led the team in rushing touchdowns with 14. Milton is a thumper who could find an impact as a short-yardage or goal-line back, but his significant health issues throughout college prove a major hurdle to overcome moving forward.
Sam led the Tigers in interceptions (3) as another graduate transfer. He spent his first five years of college at McNeese State followed by a season at Marshall. He initially announced he would transfer from Marshall to Tulane before switching to LSU, where he would start all 13 games for the Tigers last year. Though he plays the physical role of a strong, box safety, he has more of the size of a smaller free safety and may have to find a role on special teams in order to make the roster in Philadelphia.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/3/24
Friday’s minor NFL transactions:
Kansas City Chiefs
- Released: WR Anthony Miller
- Waived: LB Jordan Smith, WR Shi Smith
Philadelphia Eagles
- Placed on IR: T Le’Raven Clark
Seahawks Sign First-Round DT Byron Murphy
The Ravens broke the seal on signing some of their drafted players to rookie contracts yesterday, now the Seahawks follow close behind. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Seattle was one of the quicker teams to do the same, signing first-round defensive tackle Byron Murphy to his rookie deal today. Murphy’s deal is the standard four years with a fifth-year option worth $16.08MM that will be fully guaranteed. 
Murphy was the first defensive tackle taken off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft and the only one of his position taken in the first round. There was an early run at defensive tackle in the second round with four taken in the first seven picks of Day 2 and seven taken overall in the second round. Thanks to an historic run of offensive players to open the draft, though, only Murphy will be provided the fifth-year option granted to players drafted on Day 1.
The position’s top prospect left Austin after only his first year as a full-time starter his junior season. Over his three-year career with the Longhorns, Murphy compiled eight sacks and 15.0 tackles for loss, with five sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss coming in 2023. His efforts last year earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors and second-team All-American honors. He brings to Seattle an explosive first step and a competitive drive worthy of his first-round draft status.
The Seahawks will likely see him compete for snaps early on a defensive line that returns starters Jarran Reed, Dre’Mont Jones, and Leonard Williams, who re-signed with the team after being acquired at the trade deadline last year. Williams is a permanent fixture in the starting lineup, while Reed and Jones both had strong 2023 seasons.
Murphy is talented enough to push for starting time in place of Reed or Jones immediately. Even if he doesn’t immediately supplant one of the two as a full-time starter, defensive linemen rotate more than most other positions based on snap counts and situational matchups. Murphy should factor into the Seahawks’ defensive front early and often as a rookie, pushing the starters for playing time if he doesn’t become a starter himself by Week 1.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/1/24
Only minor transactions for today:
Green Bay Packers
- Signed: LB Kenneth Odumegwu
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: OLB Levi Bell
Latest On Falcons’ First-Round Decision
The Falcons shocked many last Thursday when the team opted to take Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Some saw the pick as a reach in value, thinking Penix could’ve been acquired after trading back; others saw it as a wasted opportunity to address a position of need after Atlanta had just given Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180MM contract with $90MM guaranteed. All this while the team faces significant tampering charges that could deprive them of more first-round picks in the future. 
In terms of value, the Falcons feel like they got a steal, at least concerning positional value. Penix ended up being the fourth quarterback off the board, following Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye, but was drafted before J.J. McCarthy, who was ahead of him in most mock drafts and rankings. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Atlanta was satisfied with how the order of quarterbacks played out, favoring Penix over Maye and McCarthy, though Maye’s camp had reportedly declined to work out for the Falcons, thinking he’d certainly be gone by No. 8 overall. Some in the building even had Penix ahead of Daniels at No. 2.
There also didn’t seem to be any interest in trading back. Breer reports that the team had made inquiries about moving up previously, investigating the availability of the draft’s top picks while in Indianapolis. They reportedly “got flat-out no’s” from Chicago and Washington, while the Patriots and Cardinals informed Atlanta that they would not be moving from their selection until they were on the clock. These rejections were part of what spurred the Falcons to land Cousins.
Speaking of Cousins, we’ve mentioned that the 36-year-old passer was understandably “stunned” by the team’s decision to take a quarterback with their first-round pick, much like the rest of us. Breer added a bit of context to Cousins’ shock that came with little-to-no heads up. He tells us that Cousins’ departure from Minnesota was, in part, due to the Vikings informing him that they had plans to draft a passer in 2024, making the Falcons’ similar plan sting all that much more.
The reasoning for the Falcons’ decision ended up coming down to their research into draft history. Head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot explored a history that showed, on average, only one or two quarterbacks that make it in the NFL out of each draft class, very few of whom are drafted outside the top 10 picks. Also, having sought Cousins to escape from the past two years of a kind of quarterback crisis, owner Arthur Blank was not content with Cousins being the only plan moving forward; he desired a succession plan.
Fontenot explained to Blank that the personnel department didn’t have much faith in the quarterbacks that would be coming out over the next two years, that their best chance for a strong succession plan to Cousins was right in front of them. Fontenot asked Blank, “Are we gonna win for a couple seasons and then not be able to win anymore…?”
In the end, Blank agreed to the moves deemed necessary, Fontenot called Cousins once they were on the clock, and the team selected his eventual replacement. In doing so, though, the team gained a newfound sense of security. Assistant general manager Kyle Smith told the media that with the acquisition of Cousins and the drafting of Penix, the brass feels great about the quarterback position “for the next five years…minimum.”
Giants Sign CB David Long
After four years in a fairly consistent, part-time starting role with the Rams, David Long struggled to find consistency in 2023. He’ll hope for less changes of scenery in 2024 after signing with the Giants today. 
After playing out his rookie contract as a third-round pick out of Michigan, Long signed a deal to join the Raiders at the opening of free agency last year. He started one of eight game appearances for Las Vegas before getting waived by the team in early November. He was claimed by Carolina, where he started one more game in three appearances before getting waived by the Panthers. He was claimed one more time last year by the Packers but was waived just prior to the playoffs. After clearing waivers, the Green Bay signed Long to its practice squad, elevating him for the team’s victory over the Cowboys.
After a delayed start to his rookie year in Los Angeles, Long started 10 games in 52 appearances. After playing minimally in his first two seasons, Long established himself on the Rams defense as a key defender in the rotation of defensive backs. He logged 77 total tackles, an interception, and seven passes defensed for the team that drafted him.
In New York, Long will come in to add some depth to the secondary. With Adoree’ Jackson departing in free agency, the Giants return Deonte Banks and Cor’Dale Flott as starters. The team also brought in Kentucky cornerback Andru Phillips in last week’s draft. Phillips and Long should be two of the team’s top options to step into a third cornerback role.