After potential 2025 NFL Draft picks Drew Allar, Garrett Nussmeier and Cade Klubnik returned to varsity solely to have their inventory plummet with unhealthy seasons, Moore’s determination to return to Oregon carries potential danger.
If he struggles subsequent season, Moore will go from doubtless first-round choose to a doable Day 2 or 3 choice. The 2027 class must also be stronger (on the very least, it might’t get any worse), which may make Moore much less enticing, too.
As for this yr, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza appears like a protected wager to go to the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 1 general. Moore’s determination complicates the image afterward.
Groups such because the Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins want a quarterback, and so they’ll be combating for scraps. Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson is likely to be the second-best within the class, but his struggles dealing with strain throughout the second-half of the season make him much less reliable.
That diminished quarterback class ought to make groups out there rethink their draft technique. As an alternative of concentrating on a quarterback in Spherical 1, it will make extra sense so as to add higher gamers at different positions of want and choose one later within the draft.
The shortage of QB depth in 2026 can even be an enormous increase for spot starters this season, together with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones and Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis. Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota had been additionally serviceable backups in 2025, whereas Spencer Rattler was higher than his win-loss report signifies for the New Orleans Saints.
Over the previous couple of years, quarterbacks together with Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones have all re-ignited their careers after failed stops of their first NFL houses, and the possibilities of one other reclamation venture understanding in 2026 is likely to be extra doubtless than a second-rate rookie main a turnaround.
As naked because the upcoming quarterback class is, groups out there for one might want to get artistic find a repair. The 2026 draft is not coming to save lots of them.
