The business side of the NFL is a wild world, and it plays no favorites. The story over the weekend was the Badger to Badger connection of Graham Mertz and Quintez Cephus. It was this alternate reality situation of what could have been had Cephus stayed another year instead of jumping into the NFL. Now, the player who's been in the NFL longer, Cephus, is cut, while Mertz makes the 53-man roster for the Houston Texans.
Graham Mertz had a bit of a roller-coaster preseason. He was truly one of the absolute worst performers in the very first game. He just looked like he didn't belong, but by the third game, he was throwing darts in the back of the endzone to former Badger Cephus.
Graham Mertz was impressive in his final preseason game and now he is QB3 for the Texans
Related: Former Badger earned an NFL spot, then got hurt, and now he's cut
That final game is probably what allowed him to make the roster as the QB3 behind C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills. He went 14/16 and 145 yards and a touchdown with two rushes for 20 yards. It was enough for the Texans to go, "Okay, there's something here."
Mertz now joins Russell Wilson as the only other former Wisconsin Badger quarterback on a 53-man roster (Mertz finished his career on the Florida Gators). Tanner Mordecai was waived with an injury designation by the San Francisco 49ers earlier this week.
On the other hand, Quintez Cephus was a casualty of the roster cuts. He was a bit of a long shot for the Texans, but he did perform great in the final preseason game against his former team, the Detroit Lions. He had four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown. It wasn't enough to give him a spot, and now he's looking for another NFL team to call home.