Which undrafted free agents will make an impact in the NFL in 2022?

Houston edge defender David Anenih

Edge defender – David Anenih, Houston (Tennessee Titans)

This is a name that was kind of confusing because, throughout the draft process, he couldn’t be found on a lot of lists. Anenih was ranked as the 246th overall prospect based on consensus boards. So there was a chance of just better than 50 percent that he’d get selected, often times actually being tagged as DL/IDL, despite spending almost all of his snaps on the outside edge of the tackle. There don't seem to be any injury concerns that may factor into this, so people kind of overlooked him. Despite being a fifth-year senior, he never racked up more than five sacks in a season. Still, there are a lot of qualities to work with. Anenih effectively lucked out with those 34 ½-inch arms in the run game, he rocked the pads of tight ends back routinely and chased hard from the backside. As a pass-rusher, he features an explosive first step, hits a wicked long-arm once he gets tackles to stand up in their sets, and is ready to shoot inside, if they leave the door open for him. His second and third steps aren’t as impressive. At this point, his pass-rush arsenal is fairly limited, and he can still do a better job of attacking half the blocker. However, Anenih had a very impressive pro day showing, including a 4.72 in the 40, a 10’3” broad jump and 25 reps on the bench press. And while he is a redshirt senior, he will only turn 23 just before the season kicks off. Not only can he set a physical edge on base downs, but he fits what the Titans like from their edge rushers, stressing with speed from those wide alignments initially and then converting that into power. Outside of the two big names under contract in Harold Landry and Bud Dupree, the only name really challenging for snaps at OLB is last year’s fourth-round pick Rashad Weaver, who only was on the field for 10% of defensive snaps as a rookie.