Falcons Got Glimpse of QB Jack Strand's Character Before Signing Him as UDFA

College football is in a weird place right now with players jumping from team to team, heck, from the NFL to college, on the regular. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Jack Strand is one of the rare players who didn't immediately take the opportunity to move to a bigger program when the chances arrived.

While it may have cost him visibility in the short run, it gave the Atlanta Falcons a glimpse at his character before they signed him as an undrafted free agent this spring.

Strand had a big year for his Minnesota State University Moorhead team in 2024; he was named honorable mention All-American after throwing for 3,421 yards and 32 touchdowns. At 6'5 and 240 pounds, he had the frame and production to get the attention of P4 schools, but he stayed with his team in 2025.

"It was never my intention to leave anyways," Strand said when asked about his decision not to test the transfer portal. The culture that we had there was incredible. The culture of loving your teammates, being part of something bigger than yourself, wanting to see the team succeed, wanting to see your teammates succeed more than you care about yourself and your own personal success, and things like that."

Strand helped engineer a team that went 4-7 his first year as a freshman, before going 8-3 last season. He had 3,546 passing yards and 42 touchdown passes in 11 games in 2025.

"We had 100-plus players and all the coaches, everybody in the program bought into that, and when you have a culture like that and everybody's bought into it, you can do some special things with it. I knew that that wasn't something I'd be able to find anywhere else," Strand said.

Strand went undrafted after not being selected to the Senior Bowl. The Falcons signed him as an undrafted free agent, and he's been a standout since arriving at Flowery Branch.

It all came together for him on Saturday afternoon against the Indianapolis Colts. At one point, he was 8/8 for 155 yards and a touchdown, and he added a 16-yard rushing touchdown for good measure.

"Football is the ultimate team game, and when you're getting excited for other people to do things, there's times where you're going to be the guy out there scoring the touchdowns, there's times when you're going to be the guy pushing another guy into the end zone. There's going to be times when you're the guy on the sideline cheering your teammate on," Strand said.

"So I think, any time that the whole team can get excited for one guy's success, that's when you really come together as a team."

There's no doubt fans and teammates were excited for Strand after his performance over the weekend, and his past deeds tell us he'll be there for his teammates when it's their turn.

Enjoy our content? Make FalconsOnSI a Preferred Source to see more stories from us on Google: https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=si.com

Add us as a preferred source on Google