The Baltimore Ravens signed Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia, formerly of Vanderbilt, and ex-UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano to three-year contracts as undrafted free agents on Tuesday, multiple outlets reported.
Both players had been invited to attend the team’s rookie mini-camp later this week but now have spots on the team’s 90-man roster, which will be pared to 53 before the season begins.
They join a quarterback room that consists of starter Lamar Jackson, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, and backup Tyler Huntley.
Pavia, 24, is a dual-threat quarterback, throwing for 3,539 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushing for 862 yards and 10 more touchdowns last season. He was intercepted eight times.
Pavia was the first Heisman finalist to go undrafted since 2014, when no team selected Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch. Pavia was the first Heisman runner-up to be unselected since Iowa quarterback Brad Banks in 2003.
He spent his first two college season at New Mexico State, the final two at Vanderbilt.
One of the knocks on Pavis is his size — he measured 5-foot-10 and 207 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine in late February. The other is his maturity level, which has been likened to former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
Fagnano measured 6-3 1/4 and 226 pounds. He will enter the NFL at age 25 after seven seasons in college due to injury redshirts and the extra COVID-19 season. He spent four seasons at Maine and three at UConn.
Last season, Fagnano finished with 3,448 yards, 28 TDs and one interception with a 161.03 passing efficiency rating. He was the only FBS quarterback with more than 200 pass attempts to have just one pass picked off. He led UConn to a 9-3 regular-season record before deciding to sit out the Fenway Bowl.
In 51 career games, Fagnano recorded 10,926 yards passing, 94 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
In 53 games. Pavia had 10,255 passing yards, 88 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. He etched his name into Vanderbilt lore by guiding the Commodores to an upset of No. 1 Alabama during the 2024 season, the school’s first-ever victory over a Top 5 program.
Rushing, Pavia ran for 1,663 yards and 18 scores in his two seasons at Vanderbilt. Fagnano, more of a pocket passer, ran for 223 yards and four TDs in the UConn portion of his career.
–Field Level Media
