Texas Tech football graduates who 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 contracts 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 found success at the game's highest level despite going undrafted.

Current Dallas Cowboys right tackle Terence Steele is one of those success stories. Although he went undrafted in 2020, he has had a nice career after signing a five-year, $86.8 million contract extension in 2023.

In 2013, Cody Davis, the safety from Stephenville, Texas, who played at Texas Tech, signed with the St. Louis Rams after going undrafted. He then played 11 years in the NFL, primarily as a special teams ace. He spent time with the Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots, recording 118 career tackles.

In 2008, slot receiver Danny Amendola went undrafted. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys but was released in training camp. Luckily, he would catch on with the Rams in 2009, and that would be the start of a career in which he caught 617 passes for 6,212 yards and 24 touchdowns while also racking up 5,450 kick return yards over the course of 13 NFL seasons.

While Amendola had a memorable career, Wes Welker is the gold standard for undrafted free agents (at least as far as Texas Tech alums go). Unselected in the 2004 draft, he racked up 9,924 career yards and 50 touchdowns on 903 receptions over his 12-year career.

Will any of this year's undrafted Red Raiders pursue a career like the players mentioned above? That seems a little unlikely, but some will get their chance to make it on Sundays. Here's a look at where Texas Tech's undrafted players ended up in the NFL.

If there's one player from Texas Tech's undrafted free agent class who appears to be the best choice for a long NFL career, it would be punter Austin McNamara. He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, a team where Brad Robbins struggled as a player in 2023.

McNamara is arguably the best bettor in Texas Tech history. He played five years for the Red Raiders and averaged 45.9 yards per punt in his career, the highest in Texas Tech and Big 12 Conference history.

In 2023, McNamara averaged a whopping 46.3 yards on 55 kicks. That was tied for the second-best average of his career behind the 48.2 yards per kick he averaged in 2021.

McNamara, a three-time All-Big 12 honoree, was the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year last season. Now he's landed with an NFL team looking to improve his position.