Saints to meet with small-school quarterback prospect before 2020 draft

The New Orleans Saints are one of a few teams set to meet with Florida International’s James Morgan, a rising prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft

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All three quarterbacks who played for the New Orleans Saints last year are on track to test free agency, but it’s a safe bet that two of them will return. Team executives have made a contract extension with Drew Brees an offseason priority, while Taysom Hill can be retained on a restricted free agent tender. But that still leaves the door open for another passer to join them, especially if the plan is for Hill to remain heavily involved on special teams and in the receiver rotation.

One name to keep an eye on might be James Morgan, a draft prospect out of Florida International. Morgan has been on the rise after he turned in a solid week of practices at the East-West Shrine Bowl, which he followed up with by interviewing well at the NFL Scouting Combine. The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson reported that the Saints are one of three teams planning to touch base with Morgan in the weeks ahead, along with the Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders.

However, Wilson did not include the Saints in the list of teams most interested in Morgan’s NFL potential. That may be due to their lack of familiarity with Morgan as his actual prospects of success, with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein characterizing him as a “tough guy with a big arm” who lacks some nuance to his game, struggling to throw with consistent accuracy. Morgan figures to be picked on the third day of the draft in rounds four through seven, if at all.

But who is he? Morgan grew up near the Green Bay Packers, and was a self-professed Brett Favre fan. He played 42 games in four years as a starter (initially at Bowling Green before transferring to Florida International as a junior), peaking in 2018 with a 65.3 completion percentage with 26 touchdowns thrown against 7 interceptions.

The Saints have kept developmental passers like Morgan around before. J.T. Barrett bounced on and off of the practice squad maybe a hundred times before the Pittsburgh Steelers gave him an opportunity, a role which Tulane legend Ryan Griffin once played. While they whiffed on picking Garrett Grayson as a third-round pick, he’s also worth mentioning in the rundown of past Saints backups. We shouldn’t be shocked if Morgan joins them.

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