Behren
Morton.
Behren
Morton.
Texas Tech· 6'2"· 221 lb· 4.89s 40
R7 · #234 · New England Patriots"A processing-and-anticipation backup in the Cooper Rush mold: enough timing, toughness and system literacy to run an offense for a month, with the arm strength, athleticism and injury history that make a starting job unlikely and a long QB2 career very possible."Pre-draft read
A compact, right-handed pocket quarterback who plays with rhythm and anticipation rather than arm strength. He is at his best when the concept is defined and the ball comes out on time: he manipulates the middle-hook defender with his eyes and shifts subtly inside the pocket to reset a throwing lane. Touch is a real trait, and he varies arm angle comfortably, which made him a plus operator of the screen and RPO game.
The arm is functional rather than special; velocity dies on the deep out and on any throw that requires resetting his platform. He is not a runner — his escapes are survival moves. The mechanics are the swing variable: when his feet are married to the concept the ball is accurate and on schedule, but once the first read is covered his base widens and he sprays throws he hit cleanly a rep earlier.
He's a clean fit in a timing-based West Coast offense with spread principles, using defined reads and a quick passing game.
Rotational backup and spot starter in year one who can develop into a fringe starter with improved durability and refined mechanics.
Morton's value significantly diminishes in a run-heavy, play-action deep-shot offense due to his ordinary arm strength and lack of mobility.
A rhythm passer whose accuracy and efficiency are maximized in a system that prioritizes quick reads and on-time distribution, provided he stays healthy and maintains consistent footwork.
Behren Morton 2026 NFL Draft Tape presented by New Era | Texas Tech QB
The cleanest draft cut-up: in-rhythm intermediate throws, the middle-read dagger reps and the arm-angle variation that carried the Texas Tech screen game.
Behren Morton Regular Season Highlights | 2025 Big 12 Football
His most efficient season condensed - 66.0 percent, 8.4 yards per attempt and a 154.6 rating for a Big 12 champion, played largely on a fractured fibula.
Texas Tech vs Oregon State | Behren Morton NFL Draft Film
Full-game evaluation tape rather than a highlight reel, useful for judging the footwork and progression work that scouts flagged as the swing variable.
Morton arrived at Texas Tech as a four-star from Eastland, Texas, where his father was the team's leader, and stayed five years in Lubbock through three quarterback competitions. He redshirted in 2021, was pressed into service in 2022 when the two arms ahead of him got hurt, took over midseason in 2023 after Tyler Shough fractured his fibula, and finally opened 2024 as the announced starter.
That is the shape of the file: a competitor who kept winning the job and a body that kept betraying him. He played the back half of 2023 with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, had shoulder surgery after the 2024 season, and in 2025 absorbed a lower-leg injury, a head injury and a knee injury before, per Dane Brugler, playing the second half of the year on a fractured fibula.
The résumé is real — 8,989 yards and 71 touchdowns, fourth in Texas Tech history behind Graham Harrell, Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes, capped by a Big 12 title, a Playoff berth and the most efficient season of his career at 66.0 percent and 8.4 yards per attempt. Scouts discounted it anyway: the offense was screen- and RPO-heavy, the full-field dropback reps showed panicked footwork, and the pro-day testing was below average at the position. He was graded as a seventh-round developmental arm.
- 01
Anticipation and eye manipulation
holds the middle-hook defender on defined intermediate concepts, then fires past his shoulder to keep the window open.
- 02
Compact release
quick, with natural arm-angle variation that made him a plus operator of the perimeter screen and RPO game.
- 03
Touch on layered throws
the deep over and back-shoulder fade were live in 2025 despite ordinary velocity.
- 04
Five-year efficiency arrow
from 56.8 percent as a redshirt freshman to 66.0 percent, 8.4 yards per attempt and a 154.6 rating as a fifth-year senior.
- 05
Winner of record and documented toughness
26-10 as a starter, 11-1 in 2025, and a second half played on a fractured fibula.
- 01
Extensive injury file
a throwing-shoulder AC sprain, shoulder surgery, a lower-leg injury, a head injury, a knee injury and a fractured fibula across four seasons.
- 02
Ordinary arm strength
velocity fades on the deep out and on any throw that requires resetting his base.
- 03
Mechanics under pressure
the base widens and balls sail once the first read is covered.
- 04
System inflation and no scramble value
heavy RPO and screen volume, with negative career rushing yardage once sacks are charged.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.89sp50
- Vertical
- 30.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 113inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.17sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.44sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Texas Tech | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Texas Tech | 9 | 96 | 169 | 1117 | 7 | 6 |
| 2023 | Texas Tech | 10 | 182 | 294 | 1754 | 15 | 8 |
| 2024 | Texas Tech | 12 | 293 | 463 | 3300 | 27 | 8 |
| 2025 | Texas Tech | 12 | 219 | 333 | 2780 | 22 | 6 |
| Career | — | 45 | 791 | 1262 | 8951 | 71 | 28 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Will HammondQB13%
- Mitch GriffisQB6%
- Terrance CarterTE6%
#1 of 21 tracked contributors · Production leaned on volume · Offense explosiveness 1.32 (p76) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Honors
- Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (October 2022, 325 passing yards and two touchdowns at West Virginia)
- 2023 Independence Bowl Offensive MVP (256 yards, three touchdowns vs. California)
- Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Player of the Week (November 2024, 37-of-53 for 401 yards and four touchdowns vs. Oklahoma State)
- Started 12-0 as the 2025 starter en route to the Big 12 Championship and a College Football Playoff berth (11-1 in his starts)
- Fourth all-time at Texas Tech in career passing yards (8,989) and passing touchdowns (71), behind only Graham Harrell, Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes
A seventh-round arm who lives on practice squads and preseason reps, gets a handful of emergency snaps across a career, and never separates from QB3 status.
The ceiling if the timing and anticipation translate: an unathletic late-round passer who becomes a genuinely competent spot starter when the offense around him is structured and quick-game friendly.
The floor - and one of his own athletic comps - a late-round Patriots quarterback who never takes a meaningful regular-season snap and cycles out of the league in a couple of camps.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New England took him at No. 234, four picks from the end of the seventh round, which is precisely where the league prices a 24-year-old pocket passer with below-average testing numbers and a four-year injury history. The team was not buying arm talent or upside; they were buying a quarterback who has run a real offense for three-plus seasons, processes defined concepts on time, and can give a young roster competent scout-team and QB3 reps while working to rebuild his footwork under pressure. The bet has a narrow path. If the mechanical noise cleans up in an NFL structure and his anticipation carries a quick-game passing attack, there is a version of him that survives as a backup for several years the way Jake Browning did in Cincinnati - unathletic and unspectacular, but functional when the concept is defined. The likelier outcome is the one his own athletic comparison list hints at: Danny Etling, another late-round Patriots quarterback who never took a meaningful snap. His NFL value will be decided in camp, not on Sundays, and durability - the single thread running through every season since 2023 - remains the question that no support system can coach away.