The Pittsburgh Steelers normally carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster during the season, yet after the 2023 NFL Draft concluded the team only had two: Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky. The Steelers promptly addressed that issue, signing Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan as an undrafted free agent shortly after the draft.
Morgan spent six years at Minnesota where he owns multiple school records, including games won (33) and completion percentage (62.2 percent). Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Morgan’s experience is something that attracted the team to him.
“He’s a guy that’s played a lot,” said Tomlin Saturday after a rookie minicamp practice, via 93.7 The Fan. “He’s a six-year guy, he’s got some leadership, intangible qualities, he’s been highly productive within that program. And so his resume is pretty extensive for a guy in that position.”
With a younger quarterback room — Pickett is going into his second season and Trubisky is entering his seventh — it makes sense that Tomlin and the Steelers would want to add a quarterback with a little more experience on the roster. While Morgan doesn’t have NFL experience, he does have experience playing for a good program in a Power Five conference. He has consistently played against high-level talent even if it is not consistently NFL-level talent.
Tomlin also mentioned Morgan’s productivity at Minnesota. As mentioned earlier, Morgan owns multiple school records, but he is also second in many, including passing touchdowns (65), completions (661), and passing yards (9,454). Morgan also boasts an impressive TD-INT ratio of 2.03, showing that he has the ability to take care of the ball, something Tomlin covets.
It is no guarantee that Morgan will be on the Steelers roster come Week One, but he certainly has a lot of the attributes the team looks for in quarterbacks. With Morgan likely never seeing the field in the regular season, it makes sense that the team would want someone who has seen a lot of game action and has a ton of experience playing quarterback. It also helps that he is an undrafted free agent and not a NFL veteran free agent, meaning his contract won’t be as much as say re-signing Mason Rudolph.
