LISTEN | Draft Pick Profile - James Morgan (5/14)

one of course, is the middle pick there. And I think that at the time in which James Morgan was selected, this was probably the most surprising pick in the eyes of Jets fans, because I don't think a lot of fans thought that the Jets would add a signal caller at this point in the draft. I'd agree with that, but you go back to Ron wolf AND's old philosophy of getting a quarterback into the mix every time out.

And when you look at the Jets roster they had entering the draft, just David Fells and Mike White behind Sam Donald, James Morrigan is a big kid with a strong arm whose intangibles were off the charts. And also he's a guy who you're not thinking of in terms of while we're looking at a guy in the fourth round is gonna come in here to the Jets and

compete for a starting position. Oh no, no, no, I mean you have your starting franchise signal caller and Sam Donald, who by the way, is younger than they four mentioned James Morrigan. But it's always good to have a developmental prospect in the house. And we'll talk about it later. Does he start out as a third quarterback? Does he have the potential to be a number two at what point?

But also, I don't think you take a guy in the fourth round unless you feel that this is a guy who down the line, he has start type of qualities. And again, you can never have too many good quarterbacks in the NFL. And they loved the interview they had with them talking football, so they were thinking, not just get a developmental prospect in the house, but also he can add to the quarterback room. He can help Sam

Donald out on Sundays. Well, let's hear from Joe Douglas and his staff, Rex Hogan and Phil Savage and what they thought about James Morgan and why he's a good fit for the Jets. Outstanding leadership qualities, big arm, big kid, highly productive, very intelligent. He just wowed us with his combine interview, just an extremely intelligent, football smart young man

who's got a lot of physical tools. When we're talking about him talking about the quarterback position and how important that position is moving forward and making sure we have depth there and all over the roster, it was just a unique opportunity for us to get someone at a very premium position to really develop and work with. Behind sam prototypical skill set in terms of being a six ft four pound, big, strong armed quarterback who delivers in

the pocket. His intangibles are extremely high. He's extremely intelligent and bright. He basically blew us away in the interview at the combine in terms of his understanding of his system and understanding how it's going to project to the NFL and what his future is going to be in terms of how he's going to make the transition of the NFL with his acumen of football at the college level and what he sees in terms of pro style

system for the NFL. He's been in Butch Davis's system down to Florida International, which has got some pro concepts to it, so he had had a great deal for that obviously, and is a bit ability to articulate his system how it compares to ours. So it's all a matter of how soon he gets up to speed on on our system and Adam Gaze's and Dalla system, and then it'll accelerate from there because of his football knowledge

in the background that he has. You know, I think james status with us really grew from the time we saw him at the East West Shrine game and then once we interviewed him at the Combine. I mean, this is this is a twenty three year old quarterback who's got like a thirty three year old mentality. He's going to be and I've termed this a few times to some of our people. He's the sim card for Sam Donald.

He's gonna be unbelievable in the classroom with the film projects, all of the studies that go on in terms of game planning on a week to week basis, he's totally dialed in to that kind of role. And then he's got some potential in terms of the arm strength and the ability to process through his reads to become a player in his own right. You know, we really had a lot of conviction about James Morgan from the scouting side of it and from the coaching staffs, so we

felt like the value was there. We thought that there was another team that had high interest in James, so we opted to go ahead and take him there because we really thought he would add a lot to not only our offense, but just to our overall organization. And he has an A plus across the board as a person e A. I think what Phil Savage said there at the end really stands out to me. He called James Morgan the sim card for Sam Donald. This is a guy that has the physical tools that you want

to bet on, especially as a developmental prospect. But this guy from the shoulders up his interview at the Combine, and that's what Phil Savage talked about. Joe Douglas, hand Rex Hogan, they all mentioned his Combine interview. He really blew them away with his smarts, not only about what he knew about his offense at f i U, but how that translates to the pro level. And I think

that's really what the Jets were hoping for. And James mark that you don't make this pick unless this guy is a great football acumen mentality that is going to help everybody out there in that room. But you know, I'm thinking, you make this pick with the thought process

of embracing Sam Donald. And we're always focused on the offensive line and what Joe Douglas did with the interior offensive line, and then he gets the big tackle McKay backed in, and then the revampment of the wide receivers, right, Robby Anderson goes to Carolina and the Jets counter whippershot Perryman, and then they draft Denzel Mimms and that lately we've seen it at the running back position, that Levian Bell there were question marks behind the unquestioned number one back

in your backfield. So you added Michael p Ryan and then he come back with Frank Gore, the third all time leading Russia in the National Football League. Those are all pieces that are gonna help Sam Donald. But you gotta make the argument here too, is the Jets love this kid's brain. He's going to be able to help Sam Donald. When they're watching film, they can bounce things off of each other. So you've got to think more than just Sundays who starting for me sixteen games per season.

The other thing is, and I think I tweeted this draft weekend Greens, is that Sam Donald was seven and six is a starter in year two but the Jets oh in six in games that Sam Donald has not started so far in his career. So listen well to see what James Morrigan projects says immediately. But you have to get better behind him, because it is a luxury when your quarterback started sixteen games. Hopefully Sam Donald starting

sixteen games for the next ten straight seasons. But you have to have a guy ready to come in there and give you good minutes. Taking a basketball term, and this guy was a very impressive manager who has a physical skill set that people in the National Football League like. Let's dive into his background a little bit. He's from green Bay, Wisconsin, and he was the first quarterback drafted from Green Bay since the eighties when the Packers actually trapped.

And I don't remember his name off the top of my head, but he went to Wisconsin. He was drafted in the tenth round. And James Morgan grew up as most people in Green Bay did at his age upret far fan. He wore number four growing up. He goes to Bowling Green, starts his career there, transfers to Florida International after three seasons at Bowling Green, one of them his first year at Bowling Green. He red shirted there and then transferred when Dino Baber's actually went to Syracuse.

But the other thing that I think stands out to me is he only played two years at FIU, but he's at the top of most school records and almost all passing categories. Yeah, it is what last year he made twelve starts, he through for more yards. He had fourteen touchdowns through the air. You mentioned him just playing the two seasons at f I You he had uh forty touchdown passes, which ranked second most in school history. Despite playing just a couple of years, he had five

games of the least two passing touchdowns. Thrower, you look at some of the highlights cut ups that I see, he's going down to field a lot of f i U. There are a lot of throws there where he's looking down the field. What I liked is that he seems to scan the field pretty well, and you like that when you're projecting guys, how are they gonna take that step to the next level. I thought he saw things

very well out there in the pocket. Now, he not the most athletic guy, but with that being said, he had instinctive field in the pocket and some guys had that knack where they know one that prussure is coming and then kind of sense it and they can shuffle a little bit and make more time for themselves before getting rid of the football. And there's not a throw in the field that he can't make. Yeah, he's a very big quarterback. He's six four nine pounds. You mentioned

that he's actually a little older than Sam Donald. He's twenty three. Sam Donalds will be turning twenty three in June. And I think that this is an interesting pick for the Jets because last year was a revolving door at quarterback once Sam Donald went down. Just thinking about last year, Trevor Simeon was the guy. He lasted like a quarter and a half before he hurts his ankle. The ligament were all torn up. He misses the season. Luke falk

is the next man up. Undrafted free agent a couple of years ago, spent some time in Tennessee Miami and then gets claimed by the Jets. He played a couple of games, and you know that was a tough spot for any quarterback. And then David Fails comes on board later on, and I think that this is a guy where the Jets are growing him in their farm system to keep this cross sport analysis going here. So I

like what Phil Savage said about this. He was a guy, meaning Jane Horgan, was a guy that the coaching staff had conviction on and the scouting staff, so both of these staffs really saw eye to eye on him. And now that he's the guy in the farm system, I think that the Jets may feel a little more comfortable at this point. We're recording may heading into the season, if and when that comes around. A couple of things catch my eye here. You mentioned at the top the

Jets had one and one nine. They made that pick right in the middle, sandwich in the middle at one, So I think where the Jets thinking quarterback all along, maybe at some point that draft, but they had conviction and Morgan or else they don't make that call at one. They could have waited a couple of picks and maybe one went to one. So a lot of people maybe thought that was relatively early. I think the Jets probably thought they could add to their quarterback room, but they

specifically targeted this guy heading into the draft. There's no doubt about that, considering where he went and with the quarterback position or any position for that matter. If you're targeting somebody, you don't want to wait too long because then you're gonna get into the fifth and sixth rounds and maybe you'll take a guy, but not a guy that you all had conviction on, and you mentioned Savage. Joe dougas very impressed with this guy. Adam Gaze was

very impressed with this guy. So when everybody comes together and there's uniform in the opinion, then you pull the trigger. Yeah, I think this makes a lot of sense. And let's actually hear from James Morgan himself. I caught up with him right after he was drafted. James, what was it like getting the call knowing that you're now wearing the green and white? And it was absolutely fantastic. I'm here

with my family here. I'm gonna tame back to him real quick, but I mean, it was just his experience that was incredible. I'm gonna remember forever a dream come true for me and I'm so excited to be a member of this organization. So you've had an interesting collegiate road. You started bowling Green, you end up at FIU. How would you sum up your overall time and how you've grown from a freshman to a senior. Sure. I think the biggest thing about my road is it was not

without its bumps. You know. It was definitely not from pointing to point b like I thought it would be. But I'm extremely appreciative of the fact that I had those, um, you know, adversity situations come up because it really made me into the you know, the player and the man that I am today. Um So yeah, it's it's definitely not how I would have pictured it, but um you know, I've I've learned a lot along the way. I'm very

thankful to be at this point. James growing up in a small town in Green Bay going to the Big Apple, but also wearing the same jersey in green and white, has your childhood idol, Brett Farve, what's that gonna be like for you? I mean, it's gonna be a dream come true. I mean, you said I grew up I was inspired by Brett fire reviews, the Jet um and uh and I just can't believe it. I had some you know, big city experience from Miami, and I can't wait to go to um, you know, New York, New Jersey.

I just I mean, I'm so extremely excited and I can't wait to can't wait to get going, can't wait to get to work. James, what was your pre draft interactions like with the Jets. I had some great pre jeff interactions with them, So I had They're my only official interview at the combine and so it was in an awesome experience just talking film with everybody in that room. And Um, had a lot of good you know, a Joom call with him afterwards, had some good communications with

him afterwards. So, um, it's been a real good fit coach wise, and I'm just so very excited that it took this chance on me. How would you describe your playing style because I don't think there are a lot of New York New Jersey fans that watch f I you were bowling green, Yeah, so kind of my style is, Um, you know, I'm a pocket pastor. I absolutely love to go that's at the defense. I'm a guy, um, you know who will study his butt off film and you

know exactly where to go, reads coverages. I love to you know, feel prepared, um and do everything I can with the preparation process and then go back and then I slap up with the pocket. But I'm also a guy who's athletic enough to be able to pick up the play when we need it, um you know. And other than that, I'm a great leader. I'm a real competitor and I can't wait to get in there. You know, you're joining a quarterback room with Sam Donald. What do

you know about him? I think he's a great, um, you know, quarterback in this league, obviously a rising star in this league. I'm very excited to be working with him, um you know. And kind of my whole um motto throughout this process to be to do whatever I can do to help the organization win games and whatever role that maybe I want to make myself valuable to the team. What can you say about your head coach and offensive coordinator and Adam Gauge? What kind of talks did you

have with him throughout the process. So I was able to talk with both of them at the combine and um the interviews after that, and I mean, I'm extremely exciting, you know. Obviously obviously those are guys who are extremely fired up about football. I mean, just talking with it,

it really conveys how much they love the game. And that's something that you know, since a young kid watching Brett five, I have been absolutely in love with football, in love with the quarterback position, and to be able to do some of the stuff that you know they do and all the you know the quarterbacks that coach cases working with everything. I'm extremely excited to be a new member of that um you know progression. Great to

hear from James Morgan. You can see how excited he was to be able to get the call and be a member of the Green and White. And a couple of things on Morgan really quickly, just want to throw this out there. He was the first quarterback from Green Bay to earn an FBS scholarship and over thirty years,

and we talked about his smarts, his football intelligence. Well, he graduated with a three point eight a g p A with a pre law degree at Bowling Green and he's currently working towards his Master a Public Administration at f i U with the goal of attending law school after his football career is over. And now let's shift gears to the Jets quarterback whom that has Sam Donald at the top. It also has James Morgan. Then there's Mike White who was a practice squad player for the Jets.

Last year and then the Jets re signed David Failed. So this is a pretty young group of quarterbacks that the Jets have right now. It's an not standing point and that's why a lot of people were recently talking about the potential maybe the Jets getting in the mix for Andy Dalton. Of course, Andy Dalton ended up signing with the Dallas Cowboys, but maybe they're not done at

the quarterback position. Maybe you get another veteran in there, David Fells six years six years in the National Football League, but not a lot of game experience, Like you just mentioned James Morrigan going to be the developmental piece. You got your franchise signal caller with Sam Donald, but then Mike White behind there in the mix as well. So to me, that's the big question mark heading into the next few months. May you on to add a guy

and I'm not gonna speculate on names here. You mentioned Simeon before, a Simeon type, a guy who has started in the National Football League, who's got a lot of notches under his belt, per se, who's comfortable working in different systems. We'll have to see how that all plays out. Yeah, I think that when you look at the landscape of

veteran free agent quarterbacks still on the market. I'm just gonna throw out the guys that are still available, not saying that they make sense for the Jets, but this is the list that I'm looking at. Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Drew Stan Josh McCown, Trevor Simeon of course, to Shaun Kaiser, Matt Moore, and Blake Bordles. Those are really the top name still available on the market. And I actually wonder e A with the new landscape and the new cb A fifty five players now, I believe is the maximum

on the roster. I wonder if maybe teams are more likely to care three quarterbacks as opposed to the two quarterbacks and the practice squad player. I agree with that, and those are some interesting names out there. Flacco is a guy that I think teams are gonna want to know more about his medical but interesting guy because Joe Douglas was one of the big proponents of Joe Flacco when he's coming out of Delaware. Of course, Matt Moore has played for Adam Gaze before with the Miami Dolphin.

Simeon another guy. You wonder where he's at medically not saying that maybe he's not all the way back, but we just don't know sitting here as we take a podcast from our own homes. So there are veterans out there on the market, but where the Jets are at right now? Yes, it's a very youthful group. Let's just wrap up this podcast by talking about where do you

think this Jets quarterback room is. I think for me there's a little more certainty with up right now there's four quarterbacks, but I still think that the door is left open to what we just alluded to, bringing in a veteran quarterback. Yeah. True, the Jets got the guy they wanted. I think they went into the draft thinking, hey, if this James Morrigan is on the board where we're comfortable with pauling the trigger, we're gonna do just that. So I think the Jets at the end of the

weekend they check mark in that box. Now, where's Joe Douglas and the personnel staff. As far as potentially maybe adding a veteran, he is always looking to add to his roster, and think about most recently frank core people thought the Jets might be done at the running back position because they do have Levan Bell a star, and then they added to their depth with one Michael p Ryan.

So if there's another quarterback who fits that mold in terms of great culture guy, good locker room guy, someone who would be a valuable resource to Sam Donald and also has valuable snaps left in him, because again, your hope is Donald's playing sixteen for the next ten seasons. He's never coming out. Realistically, all those things are tough to do, so you want to have somebody behind him

who's been in that buire, so to speak before. So you know, Joe Douglas is going to look at the entire horizon one's out there, not only at the quarterback position, but all positions. Joe Douglas, simply put, is going to look at every avenue possible at all times of the year to add to his roster. So I don't think that the Jets are done even remotely, not just talking about the quarterback position, just talking about the entirety of

the Jets roster. And that was the James Morgen Draft Pick Preview presented by The Rise in e. A and I are wrapping up the fourth round of the Draft Pick Preview series talking about Charlotte offensive lineman Cam Clark,