Between signing Alijah Vera-Tucker and moving Jared Wilson to center, the New England Patriots’ interior offensive line saw some change this offseason. The starter level was not the only one impacted by the team’s personnel decisions, though: the Patriots also added a pair of undrafted interior lineman.
One of them was Jacob Rizy, who we already discussed in a previous installment of our Patriots scouting report series. Now, let’s take a look at the other, JonDarius Morgan.
Hard facts
Name: JonDarius Morgan
Position:
Guard/Interior offensive line
Jersey number: 69
Opening day age: 23 (2/10/2003)
Measurements: 6’3 1/4”, 321 lbs, 10 3/8” hand size, 35 3/8” arm length, 82 3/4” wingspan, 5.35s 40-yard dash, 7.85s 3-cone drill, 4.94s short shuttle, 26” vertical jump, 8’4” broad jump, 23 bench press reps, 3.85 Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: New England Patriots (2026-) | College: South Carolina (2021-23), UAB (2024-25)
An offensive tackle coming out of Huffman High School in Birmingham, AL, Morgan received multiple scholarship offers. The three-star recruit eventually decided to join South Carolina over Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Arizona State, among others. His three-year stint with the Gamecocks was largely uneventful, however, and he started none out of his eight games while playing just 53 combined offensive and special teams snaps.
Morgan eventually entered the transfer portal in December 2023, and within two weeks had completed a move to UAB. Playing for his hometown college, he immediately saw an uptick in opportunities: he entered the lineup right out of the gate and ended up starting all 24 of his games over the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The Patriots eventually ended up signing Morgan as a rookie free agent, after he went unselected through the 2026 NFL Draft.
Scouting report
Strengths: Standing at 6-foot-3 and 321 pounds, Morgan is a well-built lineman with the length and stout lower body to create movement in the run game and drop a firm anchor as a pass protector. Despite not testing particularly well, he has shown the ability to mirror rushers while also playing with a solid pad level and good natural balance. He effectively reaches his landmarks as a zone or pull blocker, and peels off of double teams decently quickly to climb to the second level. He also has some versatility to him having played right guard, left tackle and even some right tackle in college.
Weaknesses: Morgan has the build of an NFL-level lineman, but his power is not yet where it needs to be to hold firm against higher-quality competition than what he faced at UAB. The same is true for his hands and feet, which can get disconnected, and his punch timing and power. He might need to rebuild his hand usage from the ground up, because they were at times all over the place in college. In general, he is not the most naturally-gifted athlete, which could become a challenge against pro-level interior defensive linemen.
2025 review
Stats: 12 games (12 starts) | 868 offensive snaps, 44 special teams snaps | 11 QB pressures surrendered (3 hits, 8 hurries) | 2 penalties (incl. 1 declined/offsetting)
Season recap: Morgan started his first 12 college games upon transferring to UAB in 2024, and he decided to give it another go in 2025. He added 12 more contests to his résumé, taking yet another step forward in his development. His numbers appear to reflect this: after being credited with 30 pressures surrendered, including six sacks, he only gave up 11 and not a single quarterback takeddown in his final yeason season in college.
However, those raw numbers need some contextualization. What has helped him besides his natural development in Year 2 with the Blazers, after all, was the team’s committment to playing him at right guard full-time: in 2024, Morgan started out as a left tackle but had a rough go before moving inside. Once there, he started hitting his stride.
Spending UAB’s fall camp and entire 2025 season in that spot helped Morgan settle down and play the best football of his career as a pass and run blocker. Even if we leave out his time at tackle, his negative play rate in pass protection — i.e. the rate of combined pressures and penalties given up — improved from 3.4% to 2.5% while he also helped his team to an average 5.6 yards per carry and 10 rushing touchdowns to his side of the formation.
2026 preview
Position: Right guard | Ability: Camp body/Practice squad candidate | Contract: Signed through 2028 (2029 RFA)
What will be his role? Morgan played some promising football at UAB after his move to right guard, and the expectation is that the Patriots will also try to develop him from that position. Accordingly, he projects as a depth option vying for a backup spot behind starter Mike Onwenu — and potentially his heir: with a then-29-year-old Onwenu headed for free agency in 2027 (after already amending his contract earlier this offseason), New England might be starting to look for a successor sooner rather than later.
What is his growth potential? Even though his testing numbers are not necessarily eye-opening, Morgan has learned to play successful football despite some athletic deficiencies and to make the most out of his skillset. While it remains to be seen what his ceiling is, he has the tools to develop into a backup in the NFL and potential starter further down the line.
Does he have positional versatility? In theory, yes, given his starting history both at tackle and guard. However, he looked much more comfortable on the inside and therefore might be better suited for a clearly-defined role as a guard. In addition, he could help out on special teams as a protection player on field goals and extra points.
What is his salary cap situation? Morgan signed a three-year free agency deal with the Patriots after the draft and it comes with a $888,333 cap hit for the 2026 season. That number consists of a non-guaranteed $885,000 base salary and fully-guaranteed $3,333 signing bonus proration. The latter is the only impact he currently has on New England’s cap under the Top 51 stipulation.
How safe is his roster spot? Even though there is a lot to like about Morgan, he is in the same basic position as the aforementioned fellow UDFA Jacob Rizy: to earn what might be just one available spot along the interior offensive line, he will have to prove himself against the likes of Andrew Rupcich, Caedan Wallace, Mehki Butler and Rizy himself. The task is not impossible, but to do so he will need to adapt to life in the NFL rather quickly.
Summary: The final spot along the Patriots interior offensive line coming down to Morgan or Rizy would not be a surprise. While the latter has an intriguing mix of size, athleticism and versatility, the former has good size and movement skills himself all while playing at a high level in 2025. An interesting competition might be ahead of us.
What do you think about JonDarius Morgan heading into the 2026 season? Will he push for a roster spot? Or is the practice squad a more realistic landing spot? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.
