For the NFL, a rough rule of thumb is: around 200–300 undrafted free agents (UDFAs) get signed to contracts each year league‑wide, or about 7–15 per team right after the draft.

Quick Scoop: Core Numbers

  • One analysis looking at recent years estimated that about 220 undrafted free agents sign with teams each year , compared to about 235 drafted players.
  • Teams typically end up with 90-man offseason rosters , which they fill by:
    • Draft picks
    • Veteran free agents
    • Undrafted rookies
  • In practice, that means most teams sign somewhere in the high single digits to mid-teens of UDFAs right after the draft (for example, some teams signing 8, 10, 12, 15, or even 20+ in certain years).

Important nuance

When people ask “how many undrafted free agents get signed,” they might mean two slightly different things:

  1. How many get any contract at all (even just for camp)?
    • Answer: Roughly 200–300 league‑wide each year, varying by draft class and roster situations.
  1. How many actually stick on a 53‑man roster?
    • That number is much smaller each season, but over time nearly a third of all NFL players began their careers as undrafted free agents , showing how often UDFAs eventually win jobs somewhere in the league.

Mini Sections

Why teams sign so many UDFAs

Teams like UDFAs because they are cheap lottery tickets :

  • Most sign for the minimum salary (or close to it) with small guarantees.
  • Teams can bring them into camp, evaluate them, and cut them easily if they don’t fit.
  • Every year, a few UDFAs become starters or even stars (examples like Kurt Warner or recent success stories such as Tommy DeVito keep that belief alive).

One former GM noted that a team might sign 15 undrafted rookies and expect only one or two to make the roster , which illustrates how brutal the odds are.

Team‑by‑team examples

Recent signings and tracking pages show the range per team:

  • Some teams sign only a handful (for example, numbers like 3–6 if they drafted many players or already have a full roster).
  • Others sign well over a dozen in a given year; historically, teams have signed 20+ UDFAs in some offseasons.

So if you’re thinking in terms of “How many undrafted free agents get signed after the draft?” a realistic, simple answer is:

Expect around 7–15 UDFAs per team , or roughly 220–250 across the league in a typical year, with big variation team‑to‑team.

TL;DR: How many undrafted free agents get signed?
Across the NFL, usually a couple hundred per year — roughly 220 or more undrafted free agents sign deals after the draft, averaging high single digits to low teens per team , but only a small fraction survive final cuts.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.