The 10 Best Undrafted Players In NFL History

Every player who declares for the NFL Draft obviously wants to hear their name called by the time it wraps up, but plenty of guys will end up on the outside looking in. It can be a crushing blow, but it doesn’t necessarily mark the end of your career—as evidenced by a number of notable players who did pretty well for themselves after going undrafted.

NFL franchises devote a ton of time and effort to analyzing the talents of the college football players up for grabs in the draft, but there are inevitably going to be some prospects who end up flying under the radar.

Some of those guys ended up being the biggest steals in the history of the NFL Draft, but there are plenty of others who didn’t even get selected who managed to bounce back en route to making a name for themself as a professional football player.

Kurt Warner

As things currently stand, there are 23 players who weren’t selected in the NFL Draft who ended up punching their ticket to the Hall of Fame, and Kurt Warner is one of the most notable members of that club.

I feel like most NFL fans are familiar with the story of the man who played quarterback at Northern Iowa and ended up stocking shelves at a grocery store after failing to attract the interest of any teams when he became eligible for the draft in 1994.

However, he got the chance to try out for an Arena Football League team and took full advantage while leading them to back-to-back championship games before landing a contract with the Rams.

Warner ultimately spent 12 seasons in the NFL, was named Most Valuable Player in 1999 and 2001, and earned a ring when the Rams beat the Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Warren Moon

This one comes with an asterisk, as Warren Moon probably would have been scooped up at some point in the 1978 NFL Draft after a solid tenure at Washington.

However, he opted to take his talents to the CFL instead of being relegated to the backup role that he assumed was waiting for him in the NFL and spent six seasons as a member of the Edmonton Eskimos while racking up a quintet of Grey Cup championships.

The QB had cemented himself as one of the best players in CFL history when he announced he was ready to head back to the United States, and the Oilers prevailed in the battle to secure his talents ahead of the 1984 campaign.

Moon spent a decade in Houston while putting up some absurd offensive numbers (he led the league in passing yards and completions in back-to-back seasons starting in 1990) and ended up lasting 17 years in the NFL during a career that also ended with him being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Antonio Gates

It’s pretty easy to understand why Antonio Gates wasn’t drafted out of college when you consider he played basketball, not football, during his time at Kent State.

However, he turned his attention to the NFL after realizing an NBA career probably wasn’t in the cards due to a 6’4″ frame that made him an ideal candidate at tight end.

The Chargers invited him to a workout and didn’t waste any time signing him once they saw what he brought to the table before he made his NFL debut in 2003.

Gates spent the entirety of his 16-year NFL career with the franchise and was named to the Pro Bowl eight times. He’ll officially be immortalized in Canton in August as one of the four people being welcomed into the Hall of Fame in 2025.

James Harrison

James Harrison did play football at Kent State, but his 6’0″ frame discouraged NFL teams from drafting him due to the belief he was too small to be a linebacker at the next level.

The Steelers decided to take a chance on him in the wake of the draft, and he spent a couple of years bouncing on and off the practice squad before a brief stint with an NFL Europe franchise affiliated with the Ravens.

Harrison was on the verge of quitting football altogether when Pittsburgh gave him another shot in 2004, and he was able to make the roster as a backup before eventually landing a job as a starter en route to establishing himself as one of the most fearsome and powerful LBs in the NFL.

He won two Super Bowls with the Steelers, was named to the Pro Bowl five times, and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2008 before retiring in 2017 after 15 seasons.

John Randle

The Buccaneers selected Ervin Randle in the third round of the 1985 NFL Draft, but his brother John didn’t have the same luck in 1990 after wrapping up his college career at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Tampa Bay turned him down after offering him a tryout, but he was able to get a contract from the Vikings before making his NFL debut as a backup in 1990.

It didn’t take the DE very long to be named a starter while earning a reputation as a sack machine who made the Pro Bowl seven times and received First-Team All-Pro honors six seasons in a row beginning in 1993.

Randle spent the last three seasons of his 14-year NFL career with the Seahawks before retiring in 2004 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Rod Smith

The Broncos excelled at finding overlooked players who ended up being offensive weapons during the John Elway Era; Shannon Sharpe and Terrell Davis are two of the biggest draft steals of all time, and Rod Smith became the best wide receiver in franchise history after going undrafted in 1994.

Smith played college football at Missouri Southern, and while he was one of the best DII players in the country during his senior year, it wasn’t enough to attract any attention when the NFL Draft came along.

The WR debuted with the Broncos in 1995 after signing as an undrafted free agent and became Elway’s favorite target during the 1997 campaign that ended with Denver winning the first of back-to-back Super Bowls.

The three-time Pro Bowler retired in 2008 after spending all 12 seasons of his NFL career with the Broncos and still has the most receiving yards (11,389), receptions (849), and touchdown catches (68) in franchise history

Priest Holmes

You may have noticed I haven’t discussed any running backs until this point, and it’s very easy to argue there’s no undrafted player at that position who ended up having a bigger impact than Priest Holmes.

It’s kind of surprising Holmes wasn’t drafted when you consider he had a solid college career at Texas (a program that’s historically gotten plenty of attention compared to some of the smaller alma maters mentioned on this list).

He started his NFL career with the Ravens in 1997 and spent his sophomore season as their starting RB only to find himself relegated to a backup role after  Jamal Lewis came aboard.

Holmes ended up signing with the Chiefs in 2001, and that turned out to be a very positive development for both parties involved.

He quickly came into his own in Kansas City and won Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2002 after breaking the NFL’s single-season rushing TD record with 27.

His 10-year career was unfortunately cut short by injuries, but he was statistically the best RB in Chiefs history when he retired in 2007.

Tony Romo

There were 13 QBs selected in the 2003 NFL Draft, but Tony Romo did not end up being one of them. However, the Eastern Illinois standout had caught the attention of a few teams leading up to it, and the Cowboys ultimately offered him a contract.

Romo spent three years riding the bench before he was named the starter after the team ended its ill-fated Drew Bledsoe experiment, and he retained the role for close to a decade before retiring in 2017 after Dallas made it clear the Dak Prescott Era had begun.

Romo and the Cowboys may have struggled to get things clicking in the playoffs during his tenure, but he posted a respectable 78–49 record during his time in Dallas and made it to the Pro Bowl four times.

Adam Vinatieri

I was somewhat hesitant to put any kickers on this list when you consider most NFL teams are willing to take their chances after the draft as opposed to using a pick to select one, but I can’t not mention one of the greatest to ever do it.

Adam Vinatieri played at South Dakota State and got a tryout with the Patriots in the wake of the 1996 NFL Draft before earning the starting job that season.

He was responsible for a slew of clutch field goals during a ten-year run in New England where he won three Super Bowls, and he eventually added a fourth after taking his talents to the Colts.

Vinatieri still holds the record for the most points scored by a single NFL player with 2,673 with the help of the 599 field goals he made (another NFL record), and he also had one of the longest careers in the history of the league at 24 seasons.

Dick "Night Train" Lane

This is a bit of a throwback compared to the rest of the players on this list, but you can’t talk about the best undrafted players in NFL history without mentioning Dick “Night Train” Lane.

Lane overcame plenty of adversity growing up, as he was adopted by a woman in Texas after being found in a dumpster when he was three months old. He played high school football in Austin, a single season at a junior college, and also had a brief stint as a Negro League baseball player before enlisting in the Army in 1948.

He was working at an airplane plant in Los Angeles when he arrived at the Rams’ facility with newspaper clippings chronicling his past achievements before getting a tryout and landing a spot on the roster as a cornerback ahead of the 1952 campaign.

Lane (who earned the “Night Train” nickname due to how frequently he played the Jimmy Forrest record of that name at training camp) had a staggering 14 interceptions during his rookie year—an NFL record that stands to this day.

He ended up with 68 picks by the time he retired after a 14-year career with the Rams, Cardinals, and Lions and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974.