Texas Tech football alums who have signed as undrafted free agents in the NFL
With the 2024 NFL Draft now in the books, hundreds of undrafted players have signed free-agent deals with franchises. Of course, this is a familiar path to the league for anyone who has followed Texas Tech football as several former Red Raiders have had success at the game’s top level despite not being drafted.
Current Dallas Cowboys starting right tackle Terence Steele is one of those success stories. Despite being undrafted in 2020, he has made a nice career for himself after signing a five-year, $86.8 million contract extension in 2023.
In 2013 Cody Davis, the safety from Stephenville, Texas who starred at Texas Tech, signed with the St. Louis Rams after not being taken in the draft. He would go on to play 11 years in the NFL, mostly as a special teams ace. Spending time with the Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New England Patriots he racked up 118 tackles in his career.
In 2008, slot receiver Danny Amendola was undrafted. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys but was cut in training camp. Fortunately, he would catch on with the Rams in 2009 and that would be the beginning of a career that would see him catch 617 passes for 6,212 yards and 24 TDs while also amassing 5,450 kick return yards over the course of 13 NFL seasons.
While Amendola had a memorable career, the gold standard for undrafted free agents (at least as far as Texas Tech alums go) is Wes Welker. Not selected in the 2004 draft, he would go on to post 9,924 career yards and 50 touchdowns on 903 receptions during his 12-year career.
