HEADLINES

Tanner Morgan

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/10/23

November 10th, 2023 at 6:32pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s practice squad moves heading into the 10th weekend of the NFL season:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Minnesota Vikings

Seattle Seahawks

  • Released: NT Matthew Gotel

Morgan was signed on Wednesday to serve as an extra arm in practice amid the season-long loss of Kirk Cousins and with backup quarterback Jaren Hall still in concussion protocol, leaving only Sean Mannion behind recent acquisition Joshua Dobbs at quarterback. The undrafted free agent rookie was originally signed by the Steelers, but after not making the initial 53-man roster or practice squad to start the season in Pittsburgh, Morgan returned to his alma mater at the University of Minnesota in order to serve as an offensive analyst on the Golden Gophers staff.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/8/23

November 8th, 2023 at 8:03pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/10/23

October 10th, 2023 at 7:30pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Atlanta Falcons

  • Released: WR Xavier Malone

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: FB Jack Colletto

Anthony Firkser will provide the Lions with some veteran tight end depth. Darrell Daniels has mostly transitioned to a fullback role and James Mitchell is sidelined with a hamstring injury, leaving Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright as the two healthy TEs on the roster. Firkser has seen time in 69 regular season games, hauling in 115 catches for 1,207 yards and five touchdowns. The 28-year-old tight end got into 11 games for the Falcons in 2022, finishing with nine catches for 100 yards.

Yodny Cajuste is back in New York after getting cut by the Jets back in August. The former third-round pick got into 17 games (five starts) for the Patriots between the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He was waived by New England back in May before catching on with the Jets for the preseason.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/5/23

October 5th, 2023 at 5:50pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New York Jets

  • Signed: OL Xavier Newman-Johnson
  • Released: OL Adam Pankey

This will be a bit of a homecoming for quarterback Tanner Morgan, who played college ball at the University of Minnesota. Morgan had a breakout campaign in 2019, finishing with 30 touchdowns, but he only had a combined 26 passing touchdowns between 2020 and 2022. As a result, the QB went undrafted in this year’s draft, and following a preseason stint with the Steelers, he’ll now be joining the Vikings’ quarterbacks room.

Vikings backup QB Nick Mullens is dealing with a back injury that kept him out of practice today. Morgan will temporarily slide into the QB3 role behind Kirk Cousins and fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/28/23

August 28th, 2023 at 8:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

We are less than 24 hours from the deadline for NFL teams to trim their rosters to 53 players. Here are the latest moves teams have made as they pare their squads down toward the in-season limit:

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: DB Tino Ellis

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Steelers Announce Seven-Man UDFA Class

April 30th, 2023 at 6:42pm CST by Ely Allen

The Steelers will be keeping their rookie class extremely small in 2023. After drafting seven college prospects this weekend, Pittsburgh will only be adding seven more undrafted rookies:

We covered the addition of Morgan after his signing last night. With only two quarterbacks (Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky) currently on the roster, Morgan should have a legitimate chance to earn a roster sport. At the very least, barring the signing of another passer, Morgan should at the very least be a shoo-in for a practice squad spot.

Pittsburgh listed Byrd as a wide receiver despite his status on the Aztecs as a running back. While Byrd contributed as a rotation back, his true impact came on special teams. He earned All-Mountain West first-team honors thanks to 571 kick return yards, 118 punt return yards, and touchdowns on each type of return in 2022. It was his second straight year on the All-Conference first-team as a kick returner. The team’s main returner from last year, Steven Sims, signed with the Texans, so Byrd will compete with Gunner Olszewski for returning duties in 2023.

The Steelers recently signed kicker Chris Boswell to an extension, so bringing in Potter likely is not a threat to Boswell’s job. Boswell did miss some time with a groin injury last year, forcing Pittsburgh to scramble. This wasn’t the first time Boswell missed games, so Potter may be destined to sit on the practice squad in case of emergency.

Steelers Sign UDFA Minnesota QB Tanner Morgan

April 29th, 2023 at 7:37pm CST by Ely Allen

The Steelers will end up adding some quarterback help this offseason, signing undrafted Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 tweets that his deal includes a $25K signing bonus. After setting several Golden Gopher records, Morgan will try to make his mark at the NFL level.

Morgan became a starter at Minnesota about halfway through his true freshman year after initially losing a quarterback competition to walk-on true freshman Zack Annexstad. Once Morgan took the reins, though, he didn’t give them back, becoming the Golden Gophers’ go-to passer for the next four years.

Morgan would go on to win a Gopher-record 33 games and set Minnesota single-season records for passing yards and touchdowns in 2019. He missed some games down the stretch for Minnesota but had shown some toughness with 46 straight starts before missing any time with injury. Morgan slipped out of the draft due to concerns over his lack of an NFL arm. His accuracy really suffers the further downfield he throws. Morgan is a true competitor, though, who showed development and improvement in each passing year.

In Pittsburgh, Morgan joins a quarterbacks room that lost Mason Rudolph to free agency but still rosters second-year starter Kenny Pickett and veteran Mitchell Trubisky. With only two quarterbacks on the roster, there’s no reason to believe that Morgan can’t stick on the roster, at the very least on the practice squad. He’s shown that he can improve and compete when instructed, and he’ll get the chance to do so in the Steel City.