Which undrafted free agents could make an impact in the 2023 NFL season?

#12. Ronnie Hickman, SAF, Cleveland Browns (Ohio State)

Ohio State safety Ronnie Hickman

Talking about safeties and having mentioned the Cleveland Browns, they actually picked up the guy I put just above Quindell Johnson in my positional rankings. Even being a four-star recruit at Ohio State, Hickman didn’t enter the starting lineup until his third season in Columbus. However, he’s been a very productive player over those two seasons since, earning second- and third-team All-Big Ten accolades respectively, with 152 combined tackles, three interceptions, seven passes broken up and two fumbles forced.

Even though I was once again higher on Hickman than the consensus, he was considered a fifth-to-sixth-round pick.

At 6’1″ and 205 pounds, this guy brings a chiseled physique with 33-inch arms. When playing the deep middle, you don’t see him blindly void his space, but you love what Hickman brings charging up the alley against the run from split-safety alignments.

You see him create stalemates against big backs in the hole or chop down guys on the perimeter for minimal yardage, and slot receivers don’t stand much of a chance trying to shield him in that regard.

Thanks to his instincts and play-making skills, Hickman was regularly deployed as a single-high safety,. He has experience in a variety of coverage assignments, showing plus peripheral vision and awareness for targets around him, giving the appropriate depth as receivers push vertically towards him when playing deep and staying true to his landmarks until it’s time to transition to man-coverage and attaching to the next-closest target.

When actually playing man-coverage, he recognizes any tilt or deceleration in the route, getting a jump on breaks and contesting the catch-point to forcefully. His coverage number this past season were exceptional, holding opposing quarterbacks to 13 of 30 targets his way for 107 yards and no touchdowns, while he made one pick and logged a passer rating of just 39.2.

You do see Hickman round off his pursuit angles regularly and allow offenses to gain more yards than they should, as he ends up pushing guys out of bounds rather shutting plays down before they can get there. He will certainly need to work on bringing his hips and arms through the hit, having missed 14.9 percent of his career tackling attempts with the Buckeyes.

What I believe scared evaluators was how a couple of the speedy receivers during Senior Bowl week blew by him. I personally don’t believe you’re doing Hickman any favors asking to legitimately stick one-on-one with burners in the slot, but with his frame and efficient footwork to redirect, he can absolutely be a matchup against tight-ends.

To me sort of feels like the forgotten the man of this safety class, because he doesn’t excel in one area maybe, but he’s a very complete player with great for the position.

The Browns signed Juan Thornhill and Rodney McLeod this offseason, to go alongside a former second-round pick in Grant Delpit. I would think Hickman is fourth in that pecking order, but if Jim Schwartz wants to tap into some big dime packages or they have injuries to those front-line guys, from what I’ve seen by Hickman, I believe he’s really to step in and give them quality snaps.

1 UDFA to track for each team

Arizona Cardinals – Blake Whiteheart, TE, Wake Forest

Baltimore Ravens – Keaton Mitchell, RB, East Carolina

Buffalo Bills – Richard Gouraige, OT, Florida

Carolina Panthers – Camerun Peoples, RB, Appalachian State

Cincinnati Bengals – Jaxson Kirkland, IOL, Washington & Shaka Heyward, LB, Duke

Cleveland Browns – Mohamoud Diabate, LB, Utah

Dallas Cowboys – Myles Brooks, CB, Louisiana Tech

Denver Broncos – Thomas Incoom, EDGE, Central Michigan

Detroit Lions – Mohamed Ibrahim, RB, Minnesota &

Green Bay Packers – Benny Sapp III, SAF, Northern Iowa

Houston Texans – Xazavian Valladay, RB, Arizona State

Jacksonville Jaguars – Kaleb Hayes, CB, BYU

Kansas City Chiefs – Deneric Prince, RB, Tulsa

Las Vegas Raiders – McClendon Curtis, IOL, Chattanooga & Drake Thomas, LB, N.C. State

Los Angeles Chargers – Jerrod Clark, IDL, Coastal Carolina & A.J. Finley, SAF, Ole Miss

Los Angeles Rams – Xavier Smith, Florida A&M

Miami Dolphins – Michael Turk, P, Oklahoma

Minnesota Vikings – Andre Carter II, EDGE, Army

New England Patriots – Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville

New Orleans Saints – Anfernee Orji, LB, Vanderbilt & Jerron Cage, IDL, Ohio State

New York Giants – Habakkuk Baldonado, DE, Pittsburgh

New York Jets – Jason Brownlee, WR, Southern Miss & Trey Dean III, SAF, Florida

Philadelphia Eagles – Eli Ricks, CB, Alabama

Pittsburgh Steelers – David Perales, EDGE, Fresno State

San Francisco 49ers – Joey Fisher, OL, Shepherd

Seattle Seahawks – C.J. Johnson, WR, East Carolina

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse & Jeremy Banks, LB, Tennessee

Tennessee Titans – Caleb Murphy, EDGE, Ferris State

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