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

#3. Hunter Luepke, FB, Dallas Cowboys (North Dakota State)

North Dakota State fullback Hunter Luepke

Yes, it’s time to talk about a fullback. While this has been a dying position for about the last decade now, there are still teams out there who use these guys in creative ways to gain advantages on the ground. The personnel they can force defenses to put out there is important and some also get these guys involved in the pass game.

A two-way standout in high school, Luepke received interest from nearby Wisconsin but instead joined the Bison, where over the past three seasons as a do-it-all RB/FB/TE he racked up 1,622 yards rushing and another 398 through the air, whilst reaching the end-zone a total of 31 times. He was recognized as first-team FCS All-American in each of those.

At NDSU, Luepke was asked to line up in the dot, as a wing/H-back, true fullback and in the slot. You could feel the effect this guy had as a big back, who they handed the ball to right up the gut, where he looks like a locomotive, taking shots from the side and refusing to go down.

While he displays relentless leg-drive and consistently churns out extra yards after contact, he also has better burst to get around the corner than you’d expect if defenses didn’t take care of contain responsibilities (showcased by a 4.58 at 230 pounds).

What he was best at is just pancaking linebackers when leading in the hole from off-set alignments and wrapping around bodies as an H-back. However, since he did a lot of sift-blocking across the formation to kick out the backside edge defender, he also leaked into the flats off bootlegs (they targeted him on some shot plays, such as wheel routes or drag-and-ups towards the front-side of where they faked zone runs and they even handed him some jet sweeps).

This is a versatile weapon, who has enough juice to where you want to put the ball in his hands, but may do his best work without it.

There’s only a couple of players in the NFL that fulfill a similar multi-faceted role like Luepke did at NDSU and I didn’t see any routes that afford precise breaks or whatever to consistently benefit from using him detached from the line/not in the backfield.

Mike McCarthy taking back over as the Cowboys’ offensive play-caller is key, as during his time in Green Bay, he utilized John Kuhn and even Aaron Ripkowski later on quite frequently.

Since 12 personnel was their most effective grouping last season, Dallas made it a priority to find Dalton Schultz’s replacement with second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker from Michigan. But I absolutely believe Luepke’s ability to play in-line and add another element to that offense can be useful.

Malik Davis is the only legit power back on that roster right now. So even as this organization moves on from the “everything runs through Zeke” mindset and Tony Pollard becomes the lead guy, for the oldschool approach of McCarthy, having a player that can bridge that gap to being personnel-diverse and still taking it to defense with that big O-line, I think makes a lot of sense.