Pats Pulpit
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.
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
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.
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.
Stats: 12 games (12 starts) | 868 offensive...
