College flaws that could affect the 2026 NFL draft's top QBs - ESPN

The 2027 class of NFL draft-eligible quarterbacks is going to be one of the most talked about ever. (That's saying something, of course, considering how much we talk about every class.) But between Arch Manning, Julian Sayin, Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, Jayden Maiava, Trinidad Chambliss and others, next year's group will be overloaded with both upside and narrative potential.

But first, there's 2026. This year's draft class might feature only one first-round pick and, for that matter, two QBs in the top 50. Indiana's Fernando Mendoza will go No. 1 to the Las Vegas Raiders, of course, but beyond that are quarterbacks who feature either low upside as mostly dink-and-dunk passers or players with epic upside and epic bust potential. No one is ever a sure thing, but let's just say this group is less sure than others.

Still, the quarterback position is the most important in team sports. Teams will scoop up a good number of QBs on hope alone (or, perhaps, the need for a second-stringer), and said hope might actually pay off for a couple. So for the top 10 QB prospects, let's look at why each could succeed and why each could (probably) fall short.

(Note: Unless otherwise noted, all rankings below are based on a sample of 83 QBs with at least 15 FBS starts in 2024-25.)

Jump to a QB:
Mendoza | Simpson | Beck | Nussmeier | Green
Allar | Payton | Klubnik | Altmyer | Robertson

Raw 2024-25 stats: 27 starts, 538-for-765 passing, 6,539 yards, 70.3% completion rate, 57 TDs, 1.6% INT rate, 7.9% sack rate, 52% success rate, 7.5 yards per dropback, 111 non-sack rushes for 784 yards and nine TDs

Total QBR rank (out of 84): seventh (79.4)

Why he might succeed: He just keeps improving. I like the approach of using two years of data for a