If Ravens Un-Drafted Rookie QB Joe Fagnano Shines Saturday, He's A Keeper

I promise not to get too carried away about Joe Fagnano.

At the risk of going full Bart Simpson in the opening credit of “The Simpsons,” I am repeating this mantra and trying to adhere to it. But in rewatching what this un-drafted rookie out of UCONN did to a Vic Fangio defense last Saturday (back-ups or not; vanilla scheme or not), it’s difficult not to be very impressed and not to let your mind to wander about his potential as a true developmental QB option should he do anything close to this Saturday afternoon against whatever Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores chooses to do, with whomever he decides to do it with.

Flores loves to blitz more than anyone else in this league, we know that, and he throws exotic looks around all the time that Fagnano never saw in college. But here’s what I do know: Fagnano functioned at a surprisingly high rate in general, and especially being rushed into playing most of that game with Skylar Thompson suddenly put in IR. And Flores blitzed 40% of the time last week (second-most of any team in Preseason Week 1) and he blitzed on 47% of all plays for the entire 2025 preseason (most in the NFL) and he blitzed 49.5% of the time for the 2025 season, most in the NFL.

So, yeah, this will be more of a baptism by fire, and, again, if Fagnano comes out with a passing grade he is on this practice squad and someone who should be viewed as having potential future back-up potential and someone to be included in the QB room and running scout team stuff. Someone worthy of some investment of time and energy.

Evan Washburn, CBS sideline reporter and member of the Ravens broadcast crew, believes No. 2 QB Tyler Huntley could be on another very short leash here given how important he is to this roster now, and it would be silly not to give Fagnano a long look after last week. Ravens rookie head coach Jesse Minter, a defensive mastermind himself but one who brings decidedly less numbers to attack the quarterback, spent much time talking to rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle about the unique challenges from the join practices in Minnesota and this upcoming game.

“I think the takeaways are that this is an extremely aggressive, extremely unique defense,” Minter said after Thursday’s session. “Not to say that we did not obviously try to prepare for the practices, but you are not sitting here for a whole week trying to gameplan what you might do ... They are really aggressive.

“They do a great job showing all these different looks, and sometimes pressure, and sometimes dropping [into coverage]. And so, I would say that we are probably not going to play anybody else that does as much as that, and especially with the creativity that Flo has. So, I think it was a great experience.”

And that experience is going to be primarily Fagnano’s on Saturday.

Can He Do It Again?

The Ravens know the ball has to come out quickly against this defense. Especially playing on that fact track in that dome. Doyle had Fagnano loaded with high-percentage, quick passing options in the opener and it will be the same here. How rookie “Joker” Adam Randall handles picking up the blitz and holding up in pass protection will go a long way to having Fagnano survive let alone succeed and the loss of veteran center Danny Pinter could hurt their depth at a critical spot Saturday.

Let it be written, that in week one of the preseason no quarterback completed more passes than Fagnano (22, one more than Rams first-round pick Ty Simpson). Only one QB dropped back more than Fagnano, who did it 29 times (Adrian Martinez, SF, did it 33 times). No one threw for more yards – 224, Simpson had 190 – and Fagnano was also excellent and at ease under center – a new and massively-important wrinkle in Doyle’s new offense.

“The more opportunities he has gotten over the last week, the better he has played,” Minter said after Fagnano’s debut last Saturday. “And it is a credit to him because he did not get a ton of reps, and he has never gone in there and not known what to do, not known how to operate, not known how to run the huddle. So major props to Joe."

Fagnano didn’t seem overwhelmed by any of it.

“It was a blast,” he said after that game. “It was just fun to be out there with those guys, doing a lot of work in those first 10 to 12 practices, and then to be able to go out there and go against somebody else and kind of show what we have was a lot of fun, and it's something that we can build on going forward."

Fagnano hit 11 pass catchers despite so many of the cast being rookies and with a makeshift offensive line in front of him. He produced at least two first downs on every drive he played and threw a touchdown pass to breakout rookie receiver Ja’Kobi Lane and even his interception in the back of the endzone wasn’t terrible, though he wishes he threw the ball away.

So, yeah, color me quite intrigued. But also aware.

Because if you go back to, say, 2019, and look at the week one preseason passing leaders, Ryan Griffin and Joe Webb and Mike Glennon and Josh Rosen show up. And if you looked back at 2021, it’s Nathan Peterman and Kyle Lauletta and Jacob Eason. So I’ll slow my roll, but also keep a very open mind should this young man navigate Saturday’s assignment with any polish or flair.

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