How is Quarterback a need?
- To be determined how Daniel Jones looks post-Achilles tear at the start of the season. Could take time if ever to regain confidence in his ankle.
- Can Daniel Jones stay healthy? Struggled to finish a full season every year he’s been in the league.
- Anthony Richardson Sr. is on an expiring deal. He is unlikely to be retained.
- Chris Ballard is on last year of deal and with new ownership who didn’t hire him in charge. Should 2026 be another disappointing year, the Irsays could look to hire a new General Manager after a decade of Ballard at the helm. Unclear if Shane Steichen would be fired as well too. New leadership could want to bring in their own QB, either via 2027 or 2028 Draft.
Top 10 Quarterbacks In Summer Scouting
- Dante Moore, Oregon*: Round 1 Grade
- Arch Manning, Texas*: Round 1 Grade
- Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State*: Round 1-2 Grade
- CJ Carr, Notre Dame*: Round 1-2 Grade
- Julian Sayin, Ohio State*: Round 1-2 Grade
- Darian Mensah, Miami*: Round 1-2 Grade
- Jayden Maiava, USC: Round 2 Grade
- Drake Lindsey, Minnesota*: Round 2 Grade
- Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss: Round 2-3 Grade
- LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina*: Round 3 Grade
Honorable Mentions
- Josh Hoover, Indiana
- Sam Leavitt, LSU*
- Brenden Sorsby, n/a
- Katin Houser, Illinois
- John Mateer, Oklahoma
*Has remaining eligibility post-2026 collegiate season.
Tier 1: Definitely Outside Colts Pick Range
Dante Moore really impressed me throughout the 2025 season, raising his stock significantly as the year went on. He will be missing his top target Kenyon Sadiq from last year,
but the Ducks have a strong successor in Jamari Johnson who could be another Round 1 Tight End in the 2027 Draft. The WR2 of 2024 behind Tez Johnson returns with Evan Stewart coming back from injury that cost him all of 2025. They also added a speedy slot Iverson Hooks out of UAB to the room.
Can Moore build off of his impressive 2025 season? Can he step up after draft losses to his offensive line and top target? Was the issues against the Hoosiers’ pressure a sign of his limits as a passer or just a rare off game or two? Can he show off more dynamism as a mobile QB and increase his decent but nothing special ball velocity?
Arch Manning is the continuation of the Manning Quarterback dynasty. The nephew of both Peyton and Eli and grandson of Archie, he inherited his dad Cooper’s athleticism as the only Manning who didn’t play QB: he was a highly recruited wideout. So unlike his uncles and grandfather, Arch can run like a dual threat QB with 399 yards and 10 Rush TDs in his first year as a starter at Texas.
He still had his inconsistencies on tape, especially early on in 2025. But there were flashes of true dominance and high end QB talent worthy of his family’s legacy. He knows what to do in terms of processing, field reading, passing technique, and touch. Manning just needs to show it more consistently and be more disciplined. With Arch’s tantalizing upside and resources to at least 1 Hall of Fame QB (and 2 Hall of Very Good QBs at worst on top of that), there is a strong chance he continues the family legacy of being a top draft pick. After all, the lowest draft pick in the Manning family is his grandfather Archie at 2nd Overall.
Arch could very well be the QB1 on my board once the season begins, but based off of 2025 tape I got Dante Moore just ahead of him due to more consistent tape of Moore being a very polished QB.
Deep Class…maybe
Much has been said about the depth of the 2027 QB draft class. This class has a lot of hype behind it, but plenty of questions remain for all these QBs. 2026 will be a big opportunity for each of these passers to show development and vie for positioning on the QB totem pole. Only two currently have Round 1 Grades for me, but that can change and QBflation in draft big boards vs draft slot is a major thing. There could be a lot of jostling and changes in rankings by end of season.
One under-reported factor that dilutes the hype of this QB class: 8 of the Top 10 QBs in the class has remaining eligibility left. With NIL contracts getting more and more lucrative, plenty of QBs have opted to stay longer in college in recent years to continue to develop/try to improve their draft stock rather than enter the NFL Draft immediately. Dante Moore most notably could have competed with Fernando Mendoza for the top QB in the 2026 Draft and was a lock to go in the top 5 of the draft, but opted to return to Oregon.
There is hardly a guarantee even half of the QBs listed in the top 10 enter the 2027 Draft, and even then the 5 that do could very well get taken before the Colts Round 2 pick. The Colts will be hoping for a large amount of declares if they decide they need to address QB in 2027, as otherwise their options may be amongst the honorable mention QBs. Or they could hope for a lot of QBs to return to college and potentially boost the 2028 Draft class when the Colts have their own Round 1 pick back again.
The Best Last Year Eligibility QBs
Of the QBs with no eligibility left after 2026, Jayden Maiava from USC and Trinidad Chambliss out of Ole Miss stand out as the top 2, with Indiana’s Josh Hoover and Illinois Katin Houser up transferring to the BIG10 and having opportunities to really raise their stock against one of the toughest conferences in college after previous starting experiences at TCU for Hoover and Michigan State (freshman year) and East Carolina for Houser.
Maiava is a prototypical size QB at 6’4 230 lbs and has showcased a ton of toughness, escapability as an improviser, high end velocity, and touch passes into tight windows at every depth. He had some spectacular throws on tape to Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane, helping both of them be very productive and well drafted in 2026.
The native Hawaiian also has shown strong presnap adjustments and identification, able to find soft spots in coverage and mismatches consistently. His problems predominantly lie with his gunslinger mentality, which has gotten him in trouble (26 INTs in 34 games) with picks. Paired with some questionable field reading post snap and inconsistent mechanics in his throwing platform that cause inaccuracy at times, Maiava still has work to do to reach his potential.
Still, Maiava’s issues are coachable and he has a good one in Lincoln Riley who is a known QB whisperer. If he can learn from his mistakes, he has the tools to be a quality NFL starter.
Trinidad Chambliss took college football by storm towards the end of the 2025 season, earning the starting job and propelling the Rebels to a Playoff run. He is a bit undersized at 6’0 205 lbs. but has sensational arm elasticity and throw layering reminiscent of Russell Wilson. A fun combination of quick RPO processor, strong decision-maker in the quick game and with rushers in his face, excellent improviser (with rare positive EPA even when pressured), with some nice pocket movement to avoid the rush, the former 0 star recruit and Ferris State National Champion was a joy to watch.
Still he is far from perfect as a prospect. He will be a 25 year old rookie. He lacks high end velocity fastball in his throws. His accuracy can be a mixed bag at times. He doesn’t have much experience with post-snap coverage changes, full field reads beyond RPO concepts, and only has 1 year of experience outside of Ferris State. On top of potentially not fitting every team’s size requirements (albeit looks more below average than tiny overall at QB).
Chambliss also had a long drawn out and controversial court battle to try to get one last year of eligibility, potentially indicating he didn’t get the grade he wanted from scouting services as well and might have had some doubts on his pro-readiness. Perhaps with another year in high level competition he could answer some more of these questions and grow as a prospect despite his age.
Josh Hoover has had a lot of turnover issues at TCU and can hold on to the ball too long at times. Now gets to have an opportunity to learn from arguably the best coach and developer in college football with Curt Cignetti in Mike Shanahan’s Offense. The coaching staff at IU has experience with coaching up transfers at QB, getting Ohio University’s Kurtis Rourke to be a 7th Round QB and Cal’s Fernando Mendoza to be the 1st Overall pick in the last 2 years.
Hoover has a lot of tools and is a very experienced QB out of TCU. If he develops in this excellent environment at Bloomington, Hoover could be a major riser in the 2027 Draft.
Katin Houser goes to a less prestigious program, but still a solid one in Illinois, which was in the Top 25 for 8 of the first 9 weeks of the 2025 season. Houser is a toolsy QB with some dual threat rushing ability, a great fastball, strong deep ball accuracy paired with good football IQ in field reading and progression speed.
He showed a lot of grit in his journey from starter, backup, and starter again, along with becoming a leader for East Carolina. He should be a strong fit for Illinois’ spread Offense and has a chance to have his stock soar in 2026.
While there is so much that can change in the 2027 QB class from the ranking of the QBs to the amount of declares, there is a good chance this class is a deep one that could have some surprising talent slip to Round 2 or later. Post Round 1 QBs are generally a pretty low hit rate, with such QBs like Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, Gardner Minshew, Jacoby Brissett, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, Geno Smith, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles, Collin Kaepernick, Tyrod Taylor, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis (maybe) and Tyler Shough being the only multi-year starters with a large variance of success level (or lack thereof) since 2011. That is 14-16 multi year starters of the 130+ QBs drafted outside of Round 1 in the last 16 years.
While the Colts could take a swing at a QB in 2027 again, odds are not great that it works out for a QB taken after of Round 1 when the Colts have draft capital. Perhaps this position is best left to be addressed in 2028 instead.
