With the draft over, the mad dash for undrafted free agents has begun. Many of the players atop consensus boards will have previously unknown injury or off-field concerns, some strong enough to ward teams off entirely. In 2014, when projected second-round pick Antonio Richardson fell out of the draft, it was later revealed that Richardson had a degenerative knee condition.

Many of these players will have short leashes — a talented tight end like A.C. Leonard wasn’t given much leeway before the Minnesota Vikings cut him mid-camp, despite some highlight-reel plays.

Where a lot of impact undrafted free agents come from is often random. Adam Thielen didn’t even earn a UDFA contract after the draft and was not on any big boards, so everything here can be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it certainly seems likely that the best undrafted free agents are the ones highly-rated by the consensus beforehand, though those are most likely to be high-risk, high-reward players.

Let’s take a look at the top players left on the Consensus Big Board

To me, the most intriguing player is Quenton Meeks, a cornerback from a Power-5 school (Stanford) with fantastic measurables (an athleticism score of 120.1). Even though his on-field play wasn’t spectacular, these kinds of players often get mid or late-round consideration in the draft.

Relatedly, Holton Hill from Texas is in a similar boat. Though his athleticism isn’t quite the same as Meeks’, his above-average production and workouts at a very young age should be appealing. He’s known to have off-field issues, and those were apparently strong enough to scare teams off of a draft pick.

Hercules Mata’afa is unusual in that he’d be asked to play on the outside despite playing on the inside for Washington. He doesn’t have elite measurables for an edge player, but they’re pretty good and his production as a pass-rusher was solid. Some have described him as the hardest player in the draft to project, which almost certainly contributes to his drop, but may not account for all of it.

Similarly, Jeff Holland is a troubling projection on the edge in that he isn’t an athletic freak and had to rely on craftiness in order to generate edge production. His physique purportedly scares NFL teams but his production should be something to bank on, at least a little bit.

Tarvarus McFadden and Quin Blanding are two other highly-rated defensive backs, while offensive linemen Desmond Harrison and Skyler Phillips round out the top consensus offensive linemen. Harrison is an older prospect with moderate athleticism from a small school, so it’s understandable to see him undrafted, but still unusual for a combine invitee. Phillips is in a similar boat, though is a younger player with better workouts. He also did well at the Senior Bowl.

There are a good deal of linebackers, wide receivers and safeties. Personally, Simmie Cobbs, Poona Ford, Olasunkanmi Adeyi, Trayvon Henderson, Matthew Thomas and Korey Robertson intrigue me.

Arif Hasan

Arif Hasan has written for sites all across the internet and his work has been featured in the Athletic, Pro Football Network, Star Tribune, LA Times, Forbes, SB Nation, the Bleacher Report and MSNBC. He currently also writes for the Wide Left Substack. You can find him on twitter at @ArifHasanNFL.

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