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Alignment healthcare CEO John Kao sells $356,200 in ALHC stock. Skip to main content Skip to navigation Trajectory of 2027 NFL draft QB prospects flips fast13hPete ThamelCollege football betting: How will Chambliss fare against the LSU defense?
What happened
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The wider picture
It also serves as a metaphor for how quickly the fate of a college quarterback's trajectory can be flipped. A week ago, Dante Moore held the authoritative lead to be the first quarterback picked in next year's NFL draft. As for Mestemaker, he sputtered through a two-score loss at Tulsa in his Oklahoma State debut, cooling the hype built during his revelatory debut season as the starter for North Texas in 2025. ESPN polled 25 scouts and executives on who will be the top quarterback picked in the 2027 NFL draft.
We revealed the results this weekend before kickoff — Moore (14) won clearly, followed by Arch Manning (seven), LaNorris Sellers (two), Sam Leavitt (one) and CJ Carr (one). While votes are a bit scattered and are destined to change, especially with Moore off to a tepid start, the class' defining trait is the amount of quality depth. "I think it's holding strong," a veteran NFL scout said Monday. "While waves are inevitable, what's certain is that the overall breadth of talent is what separates this class.
What has been reported
There's no clear, once-in-a-generation chatter about any of the prospects — the kind that accompanied players such as Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert — but this quarterback class will be defined by the sheer volume of prospects that scouts get to sift through. After the five we've already mentioned from the poll — Moore, Manning, Sellers, Leavitt and Carr — there's a stable of others in the conversation running for a spot in the first round.
That includes former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, Miami's Mensah, USC's Maiava, OU's Mateer, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, Ohio State's Julian Sayin, Indiana's Josh Hoover, Oklahoma State's Mestemaker, Washington's Demond Williams Jr. , Penn State's Rocco Becht and UCLA's Nico Iamaleava. (Mateer's arrow certainly is tilting down after an inaccurate 17-of-33 passing performance in a loss at Michigan, but Mestemaker proved already this year that a quarterback's redemption is only a week away. )Why so deep? Some quirks of this class are that Moore is the rare quarterback who had a top-five projection and returned to school anyway.
Chambliss gained a sixth year of eligibility via a court order, or he would have been in last year's draft. Sorsby also could have been drafted high last year but attempted to transfer to Texas Tech for top-end college money instead. (He ended up admitting to gambling on college football and is now training for the 2027 draft. )Sellers flopped last year, with his completion percentage dipping by nearly 5 percentage points compared to 2024 while also throwing five fewer touchdowns.
Leavitt had NFL folks intrigued after leading Arizona State to the College Football Playoff in 2024, but he injured his foot and his performance dipped last season. Having all those players back in this draft class juiced up what already would have been a stout group in terms of depth.
What happens next
"There's just more guys this year," another scout said. "The list of reasons continues with simple supply and demand in a cyclical industry. There were only two first-round picks at quarterback in each of the past two years: Indiana's Fernando Mendoza (No. That followed a record six quarterbacks taken in the top-12 picks back in 2024. Scouts say they wouldn't be surprised if five or six quarterbacks ended up in the first round this year. There's an argument that nearly half of the teams in the NFL could at least consider drafting a quarterback high in 2027.
A crew of 10 obvious teams will have their scouts and executives filling college press boxes due to an immediate need at quarterback: the New York Jets, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New Orleans, Atlanta, Arizona and Seattle. (Seattle is because of Sam Darnold's age/contract, the rest are for performance and need. ) There are also some non-obvious candidates that could end up in the quarterback market, depending on performance, contract situations and management preferences.