Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Cowboys have strong reason to believe risky UDFA gamble will pay off

Originally posted on A to Z Sports
By Mauricio Rodriguez | Last updated 5/3/24

The Dallas Cowboys paid a whole lot of money to one of their undrafted free agents as they guaranteed a total $245,000 to tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford after the 2024 NFL Draft.

While the money shows how confident they are in the prospect out of Minnesota, it's a risky gamble for a specific reason: His drop problem.

"PFF has data going back to 2014 and there has never been a higher drop rate for a tight end in college football history, 26.5% last year," film analyst James Foster said on my show, A to Z Sports Dallas Primetime.

However, Spann-Ford was one of the highest-paid UDFAs for a reason. He's got enormous size and a highlight reel as a run blocker. With decent speed and big size to be a red zone threat, Spann-Ford was clearly liked by many NFL teams including the Cowboys.

The good news is there's a strong reason to believe he'll overcome the stone hands problem.

"But here's the thing, he played about the same number of snaps the last two seasons and didn't have any sort of drop issues, there's a chance his finger was messed up or it was just a slump," Foster explained. "I'm sure that's probably why he went undrafted because just purely based on his blocking tape and his size, if he can be a decent receiver that's worth a draft pick."

To Foster's point, this is how Spann-Ford's last three college seasons look like on the stat sheet:

2021: 29 targets, 23 catches, no drops
2022: 60 targets, 42 catches, three drops (6.7%)
2023: 46 targets, 25 catches, nine drops (26.5%)

Clearly, something was off with Spann-Ford in 2023 but he has proven he can catch in previous years. Don't be surprised if he pushes Peyton Hendershot or someone else out of the 53-man roster, as I laid out in my way-too-early projection.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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