The other guys: A quick look at Elijhah Badger and Jake Briningstool
Our series on new rookies concludes by looking at a pair of undrafted rookie free agents.
With the Chiefs’ 2025 draft now in the books, we’ve had a TON of new film to review. My favorite part of the draft is examining new players to try and figure out where they win, where they need work, and how they can fit in with the Chiefs in their first season and beyond. I’ve completed film reviews for the entire draft class, and you can find links to them here:
Round 1: LT Josh Simmons (both pre-draft review and post-draft looking at the potential plan for him)
Round 4: WR Jalen Royals (I reviewed him right away by popular demand)
Round 3: Edge rusher Ashton Gillotte (whose film I loved)
I’ve had a lot of readers make a lot of requests regarding the film of undrafted rookie free agents, and to be perfectly honest I’ve been somewhat resistant to the idea. The unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of UDFA will never make the roster, regardless of how much they “pop” in non-padded OTAs or even early in training camp. And I think part of it is because of how conditioned we are to think of the draft in terms of value rather than players.
One of my favorite bits is how excited we get about a player who was projected to be a 5th or 6th round pick at best because of the “value” extracted by signing them as an undrafted free agent. While I certainly understand how we get there, the short story is this value is hevel (that’s a little Ecclesiastes humor for you). It’s not real, not tangible… a chasing of the wind, if you will. And that’s OK! It’s perfectly acceptable to be excited about getting a player who was considered talented enough to be drafted… but we must remember that being projected to go in the 5th round or later isn’t necessarily a reason to believe a player will contribute. We just love that value!
OK, now that I’ve thrown a bit of a wet blanket over things (it’s interesting how sometimes I set out to write one thing and end up going a totally separate direction for a bit… but I digress), I do want to talk about a couple of undrafted free agents: Elijhah Badger and Jake Briningstool. This is partly because they’ve been by FAR the two most requested UDFA I’ve been asked to look at. It’s also partly because both were considered guys who would be drafted. And finally, it’s because I can see a path to the roster (a tough path, but a path nonetheless) for both… Badger in particular.
And so, with draft season now completely behind us, let’s take a quick look at Badger and Briningstool, examining where they win, where they need work or have unknowns, and an overall takeaway on whether they can make the roster and eventually contribute.
Elijhah Badger - WR, Florida
Badger has decent size at the WR spot, measuring a little over 6’1” and weighing 200 pounds at the combine. He was also pretty productive his last three seasons of college football (two at Arizona State and then the final year at Florida). His athletic measurements in shorts aren’t bad, though they aren’t elite either.
It’s at least worth noting that at 23 years old (with his 24th birthday in August), Badger is older than most college prospects, having spent a full five years at that level. Generally speaking, that’s not a terrific sign for a WR prospect in that at 22 and 23 years old a player is more at his physical peak than his competition (and therefore perhaps less likely to continue to “grow” at the pro level).
That said, reviewing Badger’s film there’s a chance he could carve out a niche for himself in Kansas City due to his particular skillset and potential usage, given the needs along the roster.
Where Badger wins
Probably the best thing Badger has going for him as he transitions to the pro level is that he has significant experience as a boundary WR, including facing press coverage in that spot, and looks overall his most comfortable there. This includes dealing with physicality at the line and beyond and being able to fight around/through that contact.
If Badger is going to make the roster (and it’s a very long shot), his ability to handle physicality and play along the boundary will be the way he does it. The Chiefs need someone who can play that boundary, X-receiver spot who is comfortable eating up contact at the line (and beyond) and has enough speed to stretch the field deep. While I think there’s a chance Jalen Royals can do those things, Badger showed the ability to do it in college as well. And make no mistake, while the guy playing that role isn’t going to be target-heavy in Andy Reid’s offense, if things are remotely similar to what they’ve been in previous years he WILL be snap-heavy.
There’s a reason (beyond injuries, etc) that guys like MVS and Justin Watson have gotten has snap counts in recent years. Their ability to at least somewhat stretch the field (with admittedly varying levels of success) and deal with contact at the line and beyond allowed them to be that outside guy whose primary job was dragging safeties towards them. The Chiefs currently have multiple guys who can stretch the field in Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown, but both are potentially better used elsewhere than in the “track meet” role we’ve seen for outside receivers at times.
That’s the window for Badger (or, again, Royals) to grab snaps if the role doesn’t change substantially in 2025.