NFL Draft: Cal Safety Patrick McMorris Taken by Dolphins in the Sixth Round

The San Diego State transfer gives the Bears their first drafted player this weekend.

Patrick McMorris / Photo by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

Cal safety Patrick McMorris flipped on his TV at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning to watch the final day of the NFL Draft and waited until the early afternoon before his cell phone finally rang. When he answered there was no one on the other end so he assumed it was a spam call and he hung up.

It was the Miami Dolphins.

Fortunately for McMorris, they called again, informing him he was their sixth-round selection, the 198th overall pick in the draft.

“You watch it on TV, watch these guys get picked, year in and year out, and now you being in that moment it was definitely just a crazy experience,” McMorris said. “It was a dream of mine to get drafted and be able to play play in the NFL. 

“Just living out that dream, it was an exciting moment. I’m still a little shaky right now. I’m definitely happy.”

McMorris became the first Cal player chosen in the draft after his one season at Cal. He played four years at San Diego State, where twice he was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection.

Cal linebacker Jackson Sirmon, regarded as a possible late-round selection, was not among the 257 players who were drafted. A 2022 first-team All-Pac-12 selection, Sirmon likely will sign a free-agent deal to try to make a team as an undrafted player.

A year ago this spring, just as Cal hired his older brother and former Golden Bears player Malik Morris as a graduate assistant coach, Patrick McMorris had a viable option while waiting in the transfer portal.

“It kind of all aligned — it was perfect timing for me,” he said.

Cal’s recent history sending defensive backs to the NFL was another factor in McMorris’s decision to come to Berkeley. He becomes the sixth Cal defensive back drafted over the past five years, joining Daniel Scott (2023), Elijah Hicks (2022), Camryn Bynum (2021), Ashtyn Davis (2020) and Jaylinn Hicks (2020).

The 6-foot, 210-pounder had a productive season for the Bears, collecting 90 tackles, along with 4.5 tackles for loss, one interception and seven pass breakups.

“I think it helped me tremendously being able to show that I can learn a whole new playbook within a short amount of time,” he said. “And be able to play in the Pac-12 when you have all these great quarterbacks who played this year."

Three Pac-12 quarterbacks - USC's Caleb Williams, Washington's Michael Penix and Oregon's Bo Nix - were among the first 12 picks of the first round on Thursday.

McMorris also said Cal helped him learn a different style of safety. "Kind of transitioning from a more interior safety where I was at San Diego State to more of a traditional safety," he said. "Cal helped me with that just because of our scheme.”

McMorris was the 37th Pac-12 player chosen over three days in the draft. By the time all seven rounds were complete, a total of 43 Pac-12 players were picked - the most ever.

At SDSU, McMorris totaled 162 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, five interceptions and 10 pass breakups.