Joe Fagnano wasn't supposed to be here.
His name wasn't called in this year's NFL Draft. He didn't even sign with a team as an undrafted free agent. The only way he made it onto the Ravens' practice field was through a rookie minicamp tryout. Lance Zierlein, a longtime NFL.com scout, said that the practice squad "might be his ceiling".
When General Manager Eric DeCosta brought Fagnano into his office as the Ravens were making their 53-man roster, Fagnano didn't think he'd walk out of the room happy, saying afterward he thought "this might be it" for his time with Baltimore.
The undrafted rookie still didn't fully believe a positive reality, even after DeCosta told him he'd made the team.
"No … are you serious?" Fagnano said bewilderingly.
"You played too good, man," DeCosta said. "The Cinderella Man."
Fagnano, along with outside linebacker Ethan Burke, were the Ravens' two undrafted rookies who made the 53-man roster, extending the franchise’s long and successful history with finding and developing undrafted rookies. Fagnano called the moment between him and DeCosta "pretty surreal."
"From what I was told from vets and guys that have been through this, it's like 'no news is good news,'" Fagnano said. "When I got that text and the call to come in, immediately you start going through the situations in your head of what might be happening.
"So, yes — I was surprised. But that's not to say I didn't have confidence in myself. I know I am a good football player. I think I belong in this league."
After completing 74.7% of his passes for a league-high 509 yards with three touchdowns and just one interception during the preseason, Fagnano proved he belonged in the NFL. So why was he such a longshot in the first place?
Coming out of Williamsport, Pa., Fagnano didn't receive any FBS offers in high school and walked on at the University of Maine in 2019. Plenty of players who started their college careers as walk-ons made it to the NFL, including J.J. Watt, Clay Matthews, and Jordy Nelson. But they walked on at Wisconsin, USC, and Kansas State, respectively, which are much bigger schools than Maine. Fagnano's path to the pros was especially murky.
Fagnano came out firing, though, impressing during fall camp and earning a scholarship along with Maine's backup quarterback spot. When starter Chris Ferguson went down with a foot injury in early October, Fagnano stepped in and balled out, winning the team's Offensive Rookie of the Year award. After Maine cancelled its fall 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, Fagnano played well the following spring, tossing eight touchdowns to just one interception in four games.
That fall, Fagnano continued excelling before an ankle injury cut his season short after four games. He started all 11 games in the fall of 2022, then transferred to the University of Connecticut.
More adversity was on the way. After being named UConn's starting quarterback entering the 2023 campaign, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the Huskies' Week 2 loss to Georgia State and took a redshirt. Then, prior to the 2024 season, Fagnano lost the starting job to Nick Evers, who'd transferred to UConn following stints at Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
There's a saying that history doesn't repeat itself, but it merely rhymes. History rhymed in UConn's first game of the season at Maryland, as Evers went down with an injury. Just like his freshman season at Maine, Fagnano was forced onto the field, and this time, he would go on to appear in 10 games for the Huskies as Evers dealt with injuries throughout the season. After Fagnano helped them to their first nine-win season since 2007, he started the Fenway Bowl against North Carolina and took home the game's Offensive MVP honors in a 27-14 win.
Fagnano then had his best season in 2025, completing 69% of his passes and tossing 28 touchdowns to just one interception while leading led UConn to nine regular-season wins, marking the program's first-ever instance of consecutive nine-win seasons.
Fagnano finished his college career with 94 touchdowns and only 18 interceptions. Although he was invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl and NFL Combine, he wasn't expected to be drafted for a few reasons. He was an older prospect at 25 years old, didn't run much, and also didn't play the kind of high-level competition other college prospects did.
Still, Fagnano's remarkable ability to take care of the ball didn't go unnoticed by NFL personnel.
"Fagnano brings a veteran poise and stature to his decision-making," The Athletic's Dane Brugler wrote in his draft guide, titled "The Beast." "There were 130 FBS quarterbacks last season with at least 210 dropbacks, but Fagnano was the only one to throw fewer than two interceptions. His coaches frequently bring up his situational awareness as the key trait that separates him and explains why UConn always had a chance in every game."
The Ravens brought Fagnano in for a minicamp tryout along with another quarterback, Diego Pavia. Like Fagnano, Pavia was a college journeyman. Unlike Fagnano, Pavia was a college football celebrity as the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2025.
Both Fagnano and Pavia's paths to the NFL were about as straight as a circle. Both could've been dubbed "Cinderella Man" when they left college. But when they arrived in Owings Mills, the paths in front of them wouldn't be built by how they had played, but how they would play.
By the end of minicamp, the proof was in the pudding: Fagnano stuck around while Pavia was waived just before training camp. And then, history rhymed again. Skylar Thompson, who appeared to have a stronghold on the Ravens' No. 3 quarterback spot behind Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley, suffered a season-ending injury during training camp.
It happened at Maine. It happened at UConn. Now, it was happening once more, this time about 40 miles away from where Fagnano's career took a turn at SECU Stadium when Evers went down. Another injury opened up an opportunity for Fagnano to take, and he did exactly that, playing well enough throughout training camp and in each of Baltimore's three preseason games to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.
After the Ravens' final preseason game, Fagnano said he felt like he'd done enough to sleep well at night. Baltimore's coaching staff and front office felt the same.
"I just give Joe a ton of credit for how he played," Minter said. "He legitimately played his way onto this roster. … You don't want to let good players like that leave your building.
"This is a guy that took advantage of every rep. And then, when his number was called and the lights were on, he really performed."
The Ravens hadn't kept three quarterbacks on their active roster since 2020. But as Fagnano proved in college, playing well enough can break historical precedent. When asked if he felt like a longshot to make the team at the beginning of the summer, Fagnano kept it real.
"It's hard to say no because I came in as an undrafted free agent," Fagnano said. "[There were] a couple of other quarterbacks in the room. I didn't know what my opportunities were going to look like, but I just knew that if I got them, I was going to hit the ground running and I wasn't going to look back. I am proud to say that I did that."
This rhyme-filled underdog story is fitting for a player who DeCosta called the title of an Eminem song. It's also fitting that Fagnano plays for a team whose head coach is a huge Eminem fan.
While we're at it, let's look up the opening lyrics to "Cinderella Man":
Yeah, you know, technically
I'm not even really supposed to be here right now
So f*** it, might as well make the most of it
History doesn't repeat itself; it merely rhymes. Sometimes, the words are almost identical. Fagnano wasn't supposed to be here, but he made the most of it.
Even though he's come so far, Fagnano knows his song is only beginning.
"Now, I have to kind of come back down to Earth and realize that I have a job to do," Fagnano said, "[and that's] to do whatever I can to help this team win games."
