Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Official Jets podcast, the
Speaker 1: Draft Pick Profile series presented by Verizon. Continuing on here,
Speaker 1: Ethan Greenberg Eric Allen breaking down the second Jets fourth
Speaker 1: round picked James Morgan, quarterback out of F I, U
Speaker 1: and E A. This pick one. It originally belonged to
Speaker 1: the Patriots. The Jets had three picks in nine selections,
Speaker 1: one of course, is the middle pick there. And I
Speaker 1: think that at the time in which James Morgan was selected,
Speaker 1: this was probably the most surprising pick in the eyes
Speaker 1: of Jets fans, because I don't think a lot of
Speaker 1: fans thought that the Jets would add a signal caller
Speaker 1: at this point in the draft. I'd agree with that,
Speaker 1: but you go back to Ron wolf AND's old philosophy
Speaker 1: of getting a quarterback into the mix every time out.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the Jets roster they had
Speaker 1: entering the draft, just David Fells and Mike White behind
Speaker 1: Sam Donald, James Morrigan is a big kid with a
Speaker 1: strong arm whose intangibles were off the charts. And also
Speaker 1: he's a guy who you're not thinking of in terms
Speaker 1: of while we're looking at a guy in the fourth
Speaker 1: round is gonna come in here to the Jets and
Speaker 1: compete for a starting position. Oh no, no, no, I
Speaker 1: mean you have your starting franchise signal caller and Sam Donald,
Speaker 1: who by the way, is younger than they four mentioned
Speaker 1: James Morrigan. But it's always good to have a developmental
Speaker 1: prospect in the house. And we'll talk about it later.
Speaker 1: Does he start out as a third quarterback? Does he
Speaker 1: have the potential to be a number two at what point?
Speaker 1: But also, I don't think you take a guy in
Speaker 1: the fourth round unless you feel that this is a
Speaker 1: guy who down the line, he has start type of qualities.
Speaker 1: And again, you can never have too many good quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And they loved the interview they had
Speaker 1: with them talking football, so they were thinking, not just
Speaker 1: get a developmental prospect in the house, but also he
Speaker 1: can add to the quarterback room. He can help Sam
Speaker 1: Donald out on Sundays. Well, let's hear from Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: and his staff, Rex Hogan and Phil Savage and what
Speaker 1: they thought about James Morgan and why he's a good
Speaker 1: fit for the Jets. Outstanding leadership qualities, big arm, big kid,
Speaker 1: highly productive, very intelligent. He just wowed us with his
Speaker 1: combine interview, just an extremely intelligent, football smart young man
Speaker 1: who's got a lot of physical tools. When we're talking
Speaker 1: about him talking about the quarterback position and how important
Speaker 1: that position is moving forward and making sure we have
Speaker 1: depth there and all over the roster, it was just
Speaker 1: a unique opportunity for us to get someone at a
Speaker 1: very premium position to really develop and work with. Behind
Speaker 1: sam prototypical skill set in terms of being a six
Speaker 1: ft four pound, big, strong armed quarterback who delivers in
Speaker 1: the pocket. His intangibles are extremely high. He's extremely intelligent
Speaker 1: and bright. He basically blew us away in the interview
Speaker 1: at the combine in terms of his understanding of his
Speaker 1: system and understanding how it's going to project to the
Speaker 1: NFL and what his future is going to be in
Speaker 1: terms of how he's going to make the transition of
Speaker 1: the NFL with his acumen of football at the college
Speaker 1: level and what he sees in terms of pro style
Speaker 1: system for the NFL. He's been in Butch Davis's system
Speaker 1: down to Florida International, which has got some pro concepts
Speaker 1: to it, so he had had a great deal for
Speaker 1: that obviously, and is a bit ability to articulate his
Speaker 1: system how it compares to ours. So it's all a
Speaker 1: matter of how soon he gets up to speed on
Speaker 1: on our system and Adam Gaze's and Dalla system, and
Speaker 1: then it'll accelerate from there because of his football knowledge
Speaker 1: in the background that he has. You know, I think
Speaker 1: james status with us really grew from the time we
Speaker 1: saw him at the East West Shrine game and then
Speaker 1: once we interviewed him at the Combine. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is this is a twenty three year old quarterback who's
Speaker 1: got like a thirty three year old mentality. He's going
Speaker 1: to be and I've termed this a few times to
Speaker 1: some of our people. He's the sim card for Sam Donald.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be unbelievable in the classroom with the film projects,
Speaker 1: all of the studies that go on in terms of
Speaker 1: game planning on a week to week basis, he's totally
Speaker 1: dialed in to that kind of role. And then he's
Speaker 1: got some potential in terms of the arm strength and
Speaker 1: the ability to process through his reads to become a
Speaker 1: player in his own right. You know, we really had
Speaker 1: a lot of conviction about James Morgan from the scouting
Speaker 1: side of it and from the coaching staffs, so we
Speaker 1: felt like the value was there. We thought that there
Speaker 1: was another team that had high interest in James, so
Speaker 1: we opted to go ahead and take him there because
Speaker 1: we really thought he would add a lot to not
Speaker 1: only our offense, but just to our overall organization. And
Speaker 1: he has an A plus across the board as a
Speaker 1: person e A. I think what Phil Savage said there
Speaker 1: at the end really stands out to me. He called
Speaker 1: James Morgan the sim card for Sam Donald. This is
Speaker 1: a guy that has the physical tools that you want
Speaker 1: to bet on, especially as a developmental prospect. But this
Speaker 1: guy from the shoulders up his interview at the Combine,
Speaker 1: and that's what Phil Savage talked about. Joe Douglas, hand
Speaker 1: Rex Hogan, they all mentioned his Combine interview. He really
Speaker 1: blew them away with his smarts, not only about what
Speaker 1: he knew about his offense at f i U, but
Speaker 1: how that translates to the pro level. And I think
Speaker 1: that's really what the Jets were hoping for. And James
Speaker 1: mark that you don't make this pick unless this guy
Speaker 1: is a great football acumen mentality that is going to
Speaker 1: help everybody out there in that room. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, you make this pick with the thought process
Speaker 1: of embracing Sam Donald. And we're always focused on the
Speaker 1: offensive line and what Joe Douglas did with the interior
Speaker 1: offensive line, and then he gets the big tackle McKay
Speaker 1: backed in, and then the revampment of the wide receivers, right,
Speaker 1: Robby Anderson goes to Carolina and the Jets counter whippershot Perryman,
Speaker 1: and then they draft Denzel Mimms and that lately we've
Speaker 1: seen it at the running back position, that Levian Bell
Speaker 1: there were question marks behind the unquestioned number one back
Speaker 1: in your backfield. So you added Michael p Ryan and
Speaker 1: then he come back with Frank Gore, the third all
Speaker 1: time leading Russia in the National Football League. Those are
Speaker 1: all pieces that are gonna help Sam Donald. But you
Speaker 1: gotta make the argument here too, is the Jets love
Speaker 1: this kid's brain. He's going to be able to help
Speaker 1: Sam Donald. When they're watching film, they can bounce things
Speaker 1: off of each other. So you've got to think more
Speaker 1: than just Sundays who starting for me sixteen games per season.
Speaker 1: The other thing is, and I think I tweeted this
Speaker 1: draft weekend Greens, is that Sam Donald was seven and
Speaker 1: six is a starter in year two but the Jets
Speaker 1: oh in six in games that Sam Donald has not
Speaker 1: started so far in his career. So listen well to
Speaker 1: see what James Morrigan projects says immediately. But you have
Speaker 1: to get better behind him, because it is a luxury
Speaker 1: when your quarterback started sixteen games. Hopefully Sam Donald starting
Speaker 1: sixteen games for the next ten straight seasons. But you
Speaker 1: have to have a guy ready to come in there
Speaker 1: and give you good minutes. Taking a basketball term, and
Speaker 1: this guy was a very impressive manager who has a
Speaker 1: physical skill set that people in the National Football League like.
Speaker 1: Let's dive into his background a little bit. He's from
Speaker 1: green Bay, Wisconsin, and he was the first quarterback drafted
Speaker 1: from Green Bay since the eighties when the Packers actually trapped.
Speaker 1: And I don't remember his name off the top of
Speaker 1: my head, but he went to Wisconsin. He was drafted
Speaker 1: in the tenth round. And James Morgan grew up as
Speaker 1: most people in Green Bay did at his age upret
Speaker 1: far fan. He wore number four growing up. He goes
Speaker 1: to Bowling Green, starts his career there, transfers to Florida
Speaker 1: International after three seasons at Bowling Green, one of them
Speaker 1: his first year at Bowling Green. He red shirted there
Speaker 1: and then transferred when Dino Baber's actually went to Syracuse.
Speaker 1: But the other thing that I think stands out to
Speaker 1: me is he only played two years at FIU, but
Speaker 1: he's at the top of most school records and almost
Speaker 1: all passing categories. Yeah, it is what last year he
Speaker 1: made twelve starts, he through for more yards. He had
Speaker 1: fourteen touchdowns through the air. You mentioned him just playing
Speaker 1: the two seasons at f I You he had uh
Speaker 1: forty touchdown passes, which ranked second most in school history.
Speaker 1: Despite playing just a couple of years, he had five
Speaker 1: games of the least two passing touchdowns. Thrower, you look
Speaker 1: at some of the highlights cut ups that I see,
Speaker 1: he's going down to field a lot of f i U.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of throws there where he's looking
Speaker 1: down the field. What I liked is that he seems
Speaker 1: to scan the field pretty well, and you like that
Speaker 1: when you're projecting guys, how are they gonna take that
Speaker 1: step to the next level. I thought he saw things
Speaker 1: very well out there in the pocket. Now, he not
Speaker 1: the most athletic guy, but with that being said, he
Speaker 1: had instinctive field in the pocket and some guys had
Speaker 1: that knack where they know one that prussure is coming
Speaker 1: and then kind of sense it and they can shuffle
Speaker 1: a little bit and make more time for themselves before
Speaker 1: getting rid of the football. And there's not a throw
Speaker 1: in the field that he can't make. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: very big quarterback. He's six four nine pounds. You mentioned
Speaker 1: that he's actually a little older than Sam Donald. He's
Speaker 1: twenty three. Sam Donalds will be turning twenty three in June.
Speaker 1: And I think that this is an interesting pick for
Speaker 1: the Jets because last year was a revolving door at
Speaker 1: quarterback once Sam Donald went down. Just thinking about last year,
Speaker 1: Trevor Simeon was the guy. He lasted like a quarter
Speaker 1: and a half before he hurts his ankle. The ligament
Speaker 1: were all torn up. He misses the season. Luke falk
Speaker 1: is the next man up. Undrafted free agent a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, spent some time in Tennessee Miami and
Speaker 1: then gets claimed by the Jets. He played a couple
Speaker 1: of games, and you know that was a tough spot
Speaker 1: for any quarterback. And then David Fails comes on board
Speaker 1: later on, and I think that this is a guy
Speaker 1: where the Jets are growing him in their farm system
Speaker 1: to keep this cross sport analysis going here. So I
Speaker 1: like what Phil Savage said about this. He was a guy,
Speaker 1: meaning Jane Horgan, was a guy that the coaching staff
Speaker 1: had conviction on and the scouting staff, so both of
Speaker 1: these staffs really saw eye to eye on him. And
Speaker 1: now that he's the guy in the farm system, I
Speaker 1: think that the Jets may feel a little more comfortable
Speaker 1: at this point. We're recording may heading into the season,
Speaker 1: if and when that comes around. A couple of things
Speaker 1: catch my eye here. You mentioned at the top the
Speaker 1: Jets had one and one nine. They made that pick
Speaker 1: right in the middle, sandwich in the middle at one,
Speaker 1: So I think where the Jets thinking quarterback all along,
Speaker 1: maybe at some point that draft, but they had conviction
Speaker 1: and Morgan or else they don't make that call at one.
Speaker 1: They could have waited a couple of picks and maybe
Speaker 1: one went to one. So a lot of people maybe
Speaker 1: thought that was relatively early. I think the Jets probably
Speaker 1: thought they could add to their quarterback room, but they
Speaker 1: specifically targeted this guy heading into the draft. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt about that, considering where he went and with the
Speaker 1: quarterback position or any position for that matter. If you're
Speaker 1: targeting somebody, you don't want to wait too long because
Speaker 1: then you're gonna get into the fifth and sixth rounds
Speaker 1: and maybe you'll take a guy, but not a guy
Speaker 1: that you all had conviction on, and you mentioned Savage.
Speaker 1: Joe dougas very impressed with this guy. Adam Gaze was
Speaker 1: very impressed with this guy. So when everybody comes together
Speaker 1: and there's uniform in the opinion, then you pull the trigger. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this makes a lot of sense. And let's
Speaker 1: actually hear from James Morgan himself. I caught up with
Speaker 1: him right after he was drafted. James, what was it
Speaker 1: like getting the call knowing that you're now wearing the
Speaker 1: green and white? And it was absolutely fantastic. I'm here
Speaker 1: with my family here. I'm gonna tame back to him
Speaker 1: real quick, but I mean, it was just his experience
Speaker 1: that was incredible. I'm gonna remember forever a dream come
Speaker 1: true for me and I'm so excited to be a
Speaker 1: member of this organization. So you've had an interesting collegiate road.
Speaker 1: You started bowling Green, you end up at FIU. How
Speaker 1: would you sum up your overall time and how you've
Speaker 1: grown from a freshman to a senior. Sure. I think
Speaker 1: the biggest thing about my road is it was not
Speaker 1: without its bumps. You know. It was definitely not from
Speaker 1: pointing to point b like I thought it would be.
Speaker 1: But I'm extremely appreciative of the fact that I had those, um,
Speaker 1: you know, adversity situations come up because it really made
Speaker 1: me into the you know, the player and the man
Speaker 1: that I am today. Um So yeah, it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: not how I would have pictured it, but um you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've learned a lot along the way. I'm very
Speaker 1: thankful to be at this point. James growing up in
Speaker 1: a small town in Green Bay going to the Big Apple,
Speaker 1: but also wearing the same jersey in green and white,
Speaker 1: has your childhood idol, Brett Farve, what's that gonna be
Speaker 1: like for you? I mean, it's gonna be a dream
Speaker 1: come true. I mean, you said I grew up I
Speaker 1: was inspired by Brett fire reviews, the Jet um and
Speaker 1: uh and I just can't believe it. I had some
Speaker 1: you know, big city experience from Miami, and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to go to um, you know, New York, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: I just I mean, I'm so extremely excited and I
Speaker 1: can't wait to can't wait to get going, can't wait
Speaker 1: to get to work. James, what was your pre draft
Speaker 1: interactions like with the Jets. I had some great pre
Speaker 1: jeff interactions with them, So I had They're my only
Speaker 1: official interview at the combine and so it was in
Speaker 1: an awesome experience just talking film with everybody in that room.
Speaker 1: And Um, had a lot of good you know, a
Speaker 1: Joom call with him afterwards, had some good communications with
Speaker 1: him afterwards. So, um, it's been a real good fit
Speaker 1: coach wise, and I'm just so very excited that it
Speaker 1: took this chance on me. How would you describe your
Speaker 1: playing style because I don't think there are a lot
Speaker 1: of New York New Jersey fans that watch f I
Speaker 1: you were bowling green, Yeah, so kind of my style is, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a pocket pastor. I absolutely love to
Speaker 1: go that's at the defense. I'm a guy, um, you
Speaker 1: know who will study his butt off film and you
Speaker 1: know exactly where to go, reads coverages. I love to
Speaker 1: you know, feel prepared, um and do everything I can
Speaker 1: with the preparation process and then go back and then
Speaker 1: I slap up with the pocket. But I'm also a
Speaker 1: guy who's athletic enough to be able to pick up
Speaker 1: the play when we need it, um you know. And
Speaker 1: other than that, I'm a great leader. I'm a real
Speaker 1: competitor and I can't wait to get in there. You know,
Speaker 1: you're joining a quarterback room with Sam Donald. What do
Speaker 1: you know about him? I think he's a great, um,
Speaker 1: you know, quarterback in this league, obviously a rising star
Speaker 1: in this league. I'm very excited to be working with him,
Speaker 1: um you know. And kind of my whole um motto
Speaker 1: throughout this process to be to do whatever I can
Speaker 1: do to help the organization win games and whatever role
Speaker 1: that maybe I want to make myself valuable to the team.
Speaker 1: What can you say about your head coach and offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator and Adam Gauge? What kind of talks did you
Speaker 1: have with him throughout the process. So I was able
Speaker 1: to talk with both of them at the combine and
Speaker 1: um the interviews after that, and I mean, I'm extremely exciting,
Speaker 1: you know. Obviously obviously those are guys who are extremely
Speaker 1: fired up about football. I mean, just talking with it,
Speaker 1: it really conveys how much they love the game. And
Speaker 1: that's something that you know, since a young kid watching
Speaker 1: Brett five, I have been absolutely in love with football,
Speaker 1: in love with the quarterback position, and to be able
Speaker 1: to do some of the stuff that you know they
Speaker 1: do and all the you know the quarterbacks that coach
Speaker 1: cases working with everything. I'm extremely excited to be a
Speaker 1: new member of that um you know progression. Great to
Speaker 1: hear from James Morgan. You can see how excited he
Speaker 1: was to be able to get the call and be
Speaker 1: a member of the Green and White. And a couple
Speaker 1: of things on Morgan really quickly, just want to throw
Speaker 1: this out there. He was the first quarterback from Green
Speaker 1: Bay to earn an FBS scholarship and over thirty years,
Speaker 1: and we talked about his smarts, his football intelligence. Well,
Speaker 1: he graduated with a three point eight a g p
Speaker 1: A with a pre law degree at Bowling Green and
Speaker 1: he's currently working towards his Master a Public Administration at
Speaker 1: f i U with the goal of attending law school
Speaker 1: after his football career is over. And now let's shift
Speaker 1: gears to the Jets quarterback whom that has Sam Donald
Speaker 1: at the top. It also has James Morgan. Then there's
Speaker 1: Mike White who was a practice squad player for the Jets.
Speaker 1: Last year and then the Jets re signed David Failed.
Speaker 1: So this is a pretty young group of quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: the Jets have right now. It's an not standing point
Speaker 1: and that's why a lot of people were recently talking
Speaker 1: about the potential maybe the Jets getting in the mix
Speaker 1: for Andy Dalton. Of course, Andy Dalton ended up signing
Speaker 1: with the Dallas Cowboys, but maybe they're not done at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. Maybe you get another veteran in there,
Speaker 1: David Fells six years six years in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: but not a lot of game experience, Like you just
Speaker 1: mentioned James Morrigan going to be the developmental piece. You
Speaker 1: got your franchise signal caller with Sam Donald, but then
Speaker 1: Mike White behind there in the mix as well. So
Speaker 1: to me, that's the big question mark heading into the
Speaker 1: next few months. May you on to add a guy
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna speculate on names here. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Simeon before, a Simeon type, a guy who has started
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, who's got a lot of
Speaker 1: notches under his belt, per se, who's comfortable working in
Speaker 1: different systems. We'll have to see how that all plays out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that when you look at the landscape of
Speaker 1: veteran free agent quarterbacks still on the market. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna throw out the guys that are still available, not
Speaker 1: saying that they make sense for the Jets, but this
Speaker 1: is the list that I'm looking at. Joe Flacco, Cam Newton,
Speaker 1: Drew Stan Josh McCown, Trevor Simeon of course, to Shaun Kaiser,
Speaker 1: Matt Moore, and Blake Bordles. Those are really the top
Speaker 1: name still available on the market. And I actually wonder
Speaker 1: e A with the new landscape and the new cb
Speaker 1: A fifty five players now, I believe is the maximum
Speaker 1: on the roster. I wonder if maybe teams are more
Speaker 1: likely to care three quarterbacks as opposed to the two
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and the practice squad player. I agree with that,
Speaker 1: and those are some interesting names out there. Flacco is
Speaker 1: a guy that I think teams are gonna want to
Speaker 1: know more about his medical but interesting guy because Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas was one of the big proponents of Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: when he's coming out of Delaware. Of course, Matt Moore
Speaker 1: has played for Adam Gaze before with the Miami Dolphin.
Speaker 1: Simeon another guy. You wonder where he's at medically not
Speaker 1: saying that maybe he's not all the way back, but
Speaker 1: we just don't know sitting here as we take a
Speaker 1: podcast from our own homes. So there are veterans out
Speaker 1: there on the market, but where the Jets are at
Speaker 1: right now? Yes, it's a very youthful group. Let's just
Speaker 1: wrap up this podcast by talking about where do you
Speaker 1: think this Jets quarterback room is. I think for me
Speaker 1: there's a little more certainty with up right now there's
Speaker 1: four quarterbacks, but I still think that the door is
Speaker 1: left open to what we just alluded to, bringing in
Speaker 1: a veteran quarterback. Yeah. True, the Jets got the guy
Speaker 1: they wanted. I think they went into the draft thinking, hey,
Speaker 1: if this James Morrigan is on the board where we're
Speaker 1: comfortable with pauling the trigger, we're gonna do just that.
Speaker 1: So I think the Jets at the end of the
Speaker 1: weekend they check mark in that box. Now, where's Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas and the personnel staff. As far as potentially maybe
Speaker 1: adding a veteran, he is always looking to add to
Speaker 1: his roster, and think about most recently frank core people
Speaker 1: thought the Jets might be done at the running back
Speaker 1: position because they do have Levan Bell a star, and
Speaker 1: then they added to their depth with one Michael p Ryan.
Speaker 1: So if there's another quarterback who fits that mold in
Speaker 1: terms of great culture guy, good locker room guy, someone
Speaker 1: who would be a valuable resource to Sam Donald and
Speaker 1: also has valuable snaps left in him, because again, your
Speaker 1: hope is Donald's playing sixteen for the next ten seasons.
Speaker 1: He's never coming out. Realistically, all those things are tough
Speaker 1: to do, so you want to have somebody behind him
Speaker 1: who's been in that buire, so to speak before. So
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Douglas is going to look at the
Speaker 1: entire horizon one's out there, not only at the quarterback position,
Speaker 1: but all positions. Joe Douglas, simply put, is going to
Speaker 1: look at every avenue possible at all times of the
Speaker 1: year to add to his roster. So I don't think
Speaker 1: that the Jets are done even remotely, not just talking
Speaker 1: about the quarterback position, just talking about the entirety of
Speaker 1: the Jets roster. And that was the James Morgen Draft
Speaker 1: Pick Preview presented by The Rise in e. A and
Speaker 1: I are wrapping up the fourth round of the Draft
Speaker 1: Pick Preview series talking about Charlotte offensive lineman Cam Clark,