We’ve hit the point where it’s hours—and not days or weeks—before the 2025 NFL draft rolls around and a number of franchises will have to make a bold decision about the most important position on the field.
It appears to be a lock that the Tennessee Titans will take Miami Hurricanes star Cam Ward at No. 1 overall. Beyond that, this year’s drama surrounds which teams might move to pick either Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders or Ole Miss Rebels counterpart Jaxson Dart. Louisville Cardinals signal-caller Tyler Shough and Alabama Crimson Tide dual-threat Jalen Milroe are potential options for those desperate enough to overlook their obvious flaws coming out of college.
We could see anywhere from a single quarterback drafted in the first round to, if you believe various rumors and non-groupthink mock drafts, as many as four. It’s a big decision ahead for several teams with needs at the position like the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, with the possibility of spending any draft capital on a QB figuring to loom large in the future job security of a slew of general managers and coaches.
As much as front offices and scouting departments have been laser focused on dissecting this year’s class of prospects, they would be wise to treat all the non-Ward options as unsavory fool’s gold in the pursuit of a franchise player under center. Take it as a word of warning to those thinking about drafting one this week, just channel your inner Big Ten West coach and go ahead and punt it from midfield to next year.
When viewed through the lens of college football, it will be far better for NFL teams to wait to grab a quarterback. Never has short-term pain looked like a path to long-term gain than it does right now.
You probably won’t even need to land the No. 1 overall pick in order to snag a player to build around long-term either. While it may take some convincing of ownership and repeated pleas of patience, those in need of a high-end passer will be much more likely to earn a future contract extension if they wait 12 more months.
That’s because there’s a potential bumper crop of 2026 draft-eligible college football QBs set to take the field this upcoming season. Perhaps we’re not quite talking about a group on the level of what we saw in ’24 with the likes of Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, but it could come pretty close in both depth and star power.
Take the Saints, for example, who figure to be using the upcoming campaign as a bit of a reset between having a first-time head coach, an injured starting quarterback and enough salary-cap issues to force hard decisions on the makeup of the rest of the roster. They’ve been linked to both Sanders and Dart with their current top-10 pick despite both players not carrying a grade anywhere close to that kind of draft position.
If they were to wait, however, there’s a certain former five-star with local ties that could be a far more intriguing—and from what we’ve seen in a limited sample size, better—option for the long-term: Arch Manning. While most in and around the Texas Longhorns program believe it’s the preference of the family to remain in Austin for the next two seasons, that’s certainly not set in stone.
New Orleans’s current win total at FanDuel is set at 6.5 before the draft with the under heavily favored by most sportsbooks. It’s not crazy to think that the team wouldn’t even have to formally tank next season, to borrow the NBA term, and still wind up in a position where they’re drafting inside the top five in 2026 with a decent shot at landing the former Isidore Newman School product to follow in the footsteps of grandfather Archie Manning.
It’s a storybook storyline, and one those in charge of the Saints should start believing in even if Arch isn’t there for the taking. Should the Texas starter trend more toward the 2027 draft, there’s also the possibility of other high-ceiling quarterbacks becoming an option worth waiting for.
That could include another local option, LSU Tigers QB Garrett Nussmeier, the son of a veteran NFL coach who could well have been the second player taken at the position had he come out this spring instead of returning to Baton Rouge for another season. The same is very much true of Penn State Nittany Lions starter Drew Allar, who some in the scouting community believed could have gone in the top five—and possibly even ahead of Ward at No. 1 overall—this year before he returned to Happy Valley for another shot at the national title he came close to claiming as a true junior.
Even beyond those two, there’s no shortage of potential first-round options for teams looking for a quarterback in 2026.
Many eyes will be on Nico Iamaleava after his extremely publicized move from the Tennessee Volunteers to the UCLA Bruins, but there’s little denying he has the inherent talent to go that high in the draft despite a shaky first season as a starter. The change to Westwood, despite playing on a worse team overall, could pay dividends in the eyes of some pro scouts by featuring his skill set in an offense much more suited for the pros than what Josh Heupel runs with the Vols.
Fellow College Football Playoff participant Cade Klubnik is another to watch, with his size, pedigree and success playing a big role in why many are back on the Clemson Tigers bandwagon after a few up and down years. Up the road with the South Carolina Gamecocks, LaNorris Sellers might be even more intriguing for some pro teams given his ability to run the ball combined with a howitzer of a right arm.
There’s also the case to be made for Carson Beck, who was being discussed as the potential top quarterback this year before a subpar season with the Georgia Bulldogs led to him becoming Ward’s successor in Coral Gables with a hefty NIL check helping facilitate such a move. He’s still got the height and arm strength to become a first-rounder, and this season’s rehab campaign in South Florida could put him well on his way to being discussed in such a vein again.
Others, from Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt to dynamic Oklahoma Sooners starter John Mateer to intriguing 6' 5" Indiana Hoosiers signal-caller Fernando Mendoza could end up being even more than quality mid-round options with high upside next year. Heck, Miller Moss will have worked with two premier quarterback developers (Lincoln Riley with the USC Trojans and this year with Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals) and might add his name to the list of quality options. Illinois QB Luke Altmyer is another quarterback to keep an eye on.
It can often be a fool’s errand to try and predict how things go when it comes to a football season on both the pro and college level. One just has to turn back the clock a year to note that approximately nobody had Ward going No. 1 overall this time last April.
It’s also hard not to look ahead and see what’s coming down the pipeline at quarterback this season and think NFL teams in need at the position would be better served to wait.
So go ahead and sign that aging veteran backup to take snaps and use all that draft capital elsewhere this week in Green Bay to build your roster out. Next year’s group of signal-callers sure looks like one worth waiting for and should make it easy to skip out on making a risky bet on a quarterback to hitch your wagons to right now.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The 2026 NFL Draft Quarterback Class Is Worth Waiting for .
