Texans Sign Former Pitt QB to Reserve/Future Deal

PITTSBURGH -- A devisive former Pitt Panthers quarterback will stay with his current NFL team for the near future.

The Houston Texans announced that they signed 11 players to reserve/future contracts, which included former Pitt signal caller Kedon Slovis. A reserve/future deal allows teams to keep players on the 90-man roster for training camp the following season.

Slovis came into college as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2019 and started out at USC, where he had an excellent freshman season, completing 71.9% of his passes for 3,052 yards, 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions, thanks to playing with future NFL wideouts in Amon-Ra Saint Brown, Drake London and Michael Pittman Jr.

His production started to decrease the next two seasons with the Trojans. He had a solid sophomore season in 2020, completing 67.2% of his passes for 17 touchdowns to seven interceptions in six games, but his 2021 season showed a true decline.

Slovis struggled with a neck and lower leg injury as a junior in 2021, which saw him complete 65.0% percent of his passes for 2,153 yards and 11 touchdowns to eight interceptions in nine games. Jaxson Dart would eventually take over the starting position and Slovis would enter the transfer portal following the end of the season.

He would land at Pitt where he had a decent start, but after suffering a concussion against Tennessee in Week 2, his production suffered throughout 2022.

Slovis completed 184-of-315 passes, 58.4%, for 2,397 yards and 10 touchdowns to nine interceptions in 11 games for the Panthers, finishing with a 7-4 record. 

He played terribly in poor losses, particularly against Louisville, where he threw two poor first half interceptions, and completing just 14-of-31 passes in a loss to North Carolina. He also struggled with mobility in-and-out of the pocket and the offense suffered as a whole.

Slovis would transfer following the end of the 2022 regular season, with former offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. saying that Slovis didn't want to compete with incoming Boston College transfer Phil Jurkovec for the starting position in 2023. 

Pitt players also didn't care for Slovis, including former defensive back Marquis Williams tweeting out that Slovis quit on the team.

Slovis landed at BYU for his final collegiate season, where he completed 153-of-266 passes, 57.5%, for 1,716 yards and 12 touchdowns to six interceptions in eight games, missing the final four contests due to injury. He won five of those games, but lost the other three on the road in Big 12 play.

During his collegiate career, Slovis had both his completion percentage and quarterback passer rating drop each season he played.

He finished his collegiate career by completing 64.5% of his passes for 11,689 yards and 80 touchdowns to 39 interceptions.

The Indianapolis Colts signed Slovis as an undrafted free agent (UDFA) on April 27, but released him as a part of their final roster cuts on Aug. 25. The D.C. Defenders of the UFL also selected him in the second round of their draft on July 17.

Houston signed him to their practice squad on Aug. 29 and he'll look to keep a spot on the practice squad at least heading into next season.