Things have been a bit rocky in Eugene to start the 2026 season, leading many Oregon Duck fans to hit the panic button early on. However, NFL draft analyst Todd McShay is choosing to exercise some patience.
Despite Oregon being 1-1 through two weeks, with an embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Dante Moore completing just 42-of-66 passes for 569 yards and 5 TDs, McShay is still all in on Moore to be a top-five pick in the upcoming NFL draft. While the Ducks have some problems, they don't all land on Moore's shoulders, in his opinion.
"Oregon right now is at a crossroads; there's no question," McShay said. "Dante looks good. Dante's still making the throws. There's an element that you want to see as an evaluator, though, where at some
point, we all know with Dante, the level of poise he has, and the way he carries himself, and the maturity he has, and the smarts that he has at that position is all highly coveted, right? But at some point, a quarterback has to kind of take the reins of the team and become that, whether it's vocal, whether it's by example, whether it's, you know, just setting the bar; this is the expectation. We are now going to see, for the rest of this season, what Dante Moore is made of in that regard."
"Dante Moore is going to be a top 5 pick." :eyes:@McShay13 isn't expecting the Oregon QB to slide in the draft despite a shaky start to the season.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 16, 2026
(via Yahoo Sports Daily) pic.twitter.com/jgoaXJnZTd
So far this year, Moore has looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable at times, early to leave the pocket and try to make things happen in scramble drills. He has struggled with accuracy at times, but the offensive line has not done much to help him that far either, nor has the rushing attack.
The good thing for Duck fans is that it's still early in the season, and there's a ton of time to turn this around and get back into the playoff discussion. If that does happen, McShay has no worries that Moore will be back in that QB1 conversation.
"Dante Moore is going to be a top five pick," McShay said. "This is not a (Cade) Klubnik or a Drew Aller situation where they're overrated, but I do think what's happened in the first couple of weeks now has made him vulnerable to who is QB1."
Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Todd McShay backs Oregon's Dante Moore as top-5 pick in 2027 NFL Draft
