My Top Five Quarterbacks In The NFL Draft.

The NFL Quarterback Market Continues To Fly In The Face Of Supply Chain Economics as Suppliers Cant Seem To Meet The Demands At The Position. Every year since the 2020 draft, every new crop of quarterbacks has gotten worse, and top-tier options have become rarer and more exclusive, with 2023 serving as the lone exception. The Laws of Supply and Demand suggest that a consistent stream of talented quarterbacks should flow through the amateur ranks and into the pro ranks. Instead, we've gotten a lot of Substitute products. Suppliers Usually Meet Market Demand. As Prices Increase and a shortage occurs, but no one can seem to meet the demand at Quarterback, and The Market Remains Far From Equilibrium, so Players Like Kirk Cousins, Justin Fields, and Aaron Rodgers remain Employed By Teams. Even When Guys Like CJ Stroud or Trevor Lawrence look poised to raise the bar on their draft classes, regressions in-game always appear—Lawrence Produced A Sterling Season Last Year. This year, the 2026 Draft has one clear-cut prospect At The League Premier Position, and If You're only Now Reading About Him, I'd Like To Say Welcome To The World Of Football. Fernando Mendoza at one, but he's probably the second-worst number-one pick at quarterback from my evaluations, right ahead of Cam Ward.

1)Fernando Mendoza, Quarterback, Indiana—

Like Cam Ward Before Him As The Number One Pick Frontrunner in 2025, Fernando Mendoza Put His Name On The Map With One Season Of High Profile College Ball In The Big Ten With The Indiana Hoosiers. After Two Years With The Cal Bears, the former two-star recruit Mendoza transferred to Indiana, where he posted otherworldly Stats Even By College Standards: 48 Total Touchdowns, 41 passing touchdowns, 72.0 Completion Percentage, 3535 Passing Yards with an 182.9 Passer Rating, and 96th percentile EPA per pass Mark. Mendoza's Arm Talent, One Of The Key Attributes about His Game That Stands Out immediately Upon Watching His Tape, He's Got A Rocket Launcher, on A Short Launch Point( quick, snappy release), Not A lot Moving. Still, a lot of force was generated, almost like a sling. He Flashed Frequently With A 9.8 Average Depth Of Target recorded in PFF's 2026 NFL Draft Guide. Mendoza Stands At 6'4-6'5, and despite transferring In From Cal, His Completion Percentage remained In The 67% to 72% Percent Range All Throughout His Three Years In College. mendoza Demonstrated On Film That He Can Contact Any Blade Of Grass With His Arm Talent As He Attempts and Completes A lot Of Daring, With Many Splash Plays Sprinkled All Over his Tape. The Arm Strength Of Mendoza has Internet scouts fawning over it. Still, his tendency to look off "Easier" Completions Could Come Back To Bite Him In The Pros if He Becomes Overaggressive against more talented corners. Still, in college, he dominated when His Receivers Ran Long Developing Routes. Can He Trust His Protection To Hold Up And His Receivers To Get Open Down Field With The Raiders, Probably Not, but on tape, he Looked Next Level At Indiana—Mendoza Fell Short Of Earning A Perfect Grade Prospect For A Few reason. As a quarterback prospect, you never want your "Processing" Capacity To Pop Up In Evaluations Even On A Small Scale. He's Not A Bad Decision Maker When He Gets To His Decisions, But He Doesn't Always Get To The Right Decision—If That Makes Sense—Which Leaves Him Open to Pressure and Sacks When He Doesn't Settle His Eyes. Indiana's Offense Spread Defenses Out With Their "Wealth" Of Talent, and Mendoza Didn't Need to Read Much. He Could Pick a matchup pre-snap and give his receiver a chance. Mendoza Looks Better Than Cam Ward last year, but obviously a few strides behind Joe Burrow. He's Less Than Elite But a Touch Over A System Quarterback. The Raiders Need To Give Him Time, but they traded away any realistic chance of bringing in a quarterback in Geno Smith, and Mendoza Will Most Likely Start Game One In Las Vegas. Mendoza Separated Himself With One Season Of Elite Production In At A Top Tier Conference. Still, He's Far From A Finished Product, and the Raiders' signing Kirk Cousins makes sense as the best move for Fernando's Future.

Pro Comp: Kirk Cousins(

2)Ty Simpson, Quarterback, Alabama—

Once Upon A Time, Alabama, under Nick Saban, Built Its Football Reputation On Defensive Players And Running backs and Very Little Else In Between. In The Early Nick Saban (2007-2024) era, especially, the Crimson Tide became the NFL's number One Source of Defensive Players ready To Hit The NFL in stride, prepared under Saban's Tutelage, especially at defensive tackle. In college, The Tide dominated and bludgeoned opponents into submission with ground-and-pound. While the "Blandest" Quarterbacks Possible, Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron, operated the Alabama pass game that averaged less than 7 yards per pass attempt. College Offenses Evolved To Tackle Saban's Defenses. In Turn, Saban responded, "The game evolves, and you have to be able to evolve and adapt with it," and in a few short years, the Crimson Tide Became A Quarterback Development Portal. Alabama Has Produced Some Mixed Results At Quarterback With Jalen Hurts(Who Finished At Oklahoma), Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa, and Bryce Young, three of whom got drafted top 15, one in the second round early, two 200 million dollar quarterbacks (Hurts, Tua), and one Super Bowl. In recent times, Alabama has not produced a top-tier quarterback, which has become increasingly rare, even jarring, like some Twilight Zone or Black Mirror experience. Now, quarterback Ty Simpson hopes to continue this trend for Alabama In This Draft. Simpson Gets Compared To Mendoza Almost The Same Way Prince Gets Compared To Michael Jackson, And While Prince Has Massive Accolades, He's No Michael Jackson, Simpson Has Strong Pro Traits, He's Not Quite Mendoza. Off The Rip(At First Glance) He's Not As Big As Mendoza At 6'1, 211 lbs. He Stayed At Alabama for four seasons, starting one season, fifteen games in total, as a former Five-star QB, top-25 overall recruit nationally, Brought In By Nick Saban. Simpson Took Over Alabama Offense At The Tides "Lowest" Talent Wise, No First Round Receivers This Year, With One Top Ten Guy. Sure, Ryan Williams Stands Out But The Depth Of Alabama, Once Known As "Wide Receiver U," fell Behind This Season.

"I've Never Seen A Team Drop More Balls Than This" (thinking Football/Youtube) No Top Ten Backs With A Respectable Offensive Line and In His Lone Season As A Starter, Simpson'S Play Oscillated and Eventually Nose Dived and Some Of That Falls On The Talent Level Around Him. His 8.9%–9.3% drop rate ranked worst among FBS quarterbacks with at least 400 dropbacks in 2025. Simpson Demonstrated A Proclivity For Aggressive Throws Downfield and Up The Middle, according to PFF. Simpson has "the second-most completions and sixth-highest PFF passing grade on throws over the middle." He Boosted A 88.0 passing grade Over The Middle Of The Field Before His First Season As A Starter, and This Shows Up When You Watch Him On Tape. He's Consistent On His Fundamentals, his base and lower body don't shift in the pocket, he remains on line, and His Arm Talent Looks Better Than Mendoza As Far As Tight Roping Passes Into Tight NFL windows. Athletically, Simpson is adequate and functional Enough To escape Pressure On A College Level, 26% Pressure To escape Ratio, Not Elite But Higher Than Mendoza's 23.1%, and He Can Throw On The Run and Reset His Feet.

The Bama Offense Relied More On Simpson Than Mendoza, who Also Finished With a Higher Usage Rate Than Mendoza. Simpson Played In A Pro Style Offense With More "Under Center," An Offensive Style That Requires Quarterbacks To "time up[Their dropbacks] properly with different routes they will throw," Because Not Every Throw In The Pros Demands A Go Route. Simpson Doesn't Stand Over Mendoza. He's in the pro-style offense facility, but he's Demonstrated More Proficiency on Tape with Handling Under Center and timing routes. Simpson Has Some "good" Bad Throws On Tape Where The Offense Forces Him To Attempt aggressive Throws Into Shrinking Windows. One of The Knocks Of Simpson He Only Played One Full season Of College Ball, Not The Worse Thing But Scout Want To Witness More Of His Development Before Drafting Him. Simpson turns 23 Years Old During The Season Not Uncommon In The NIL post-COVID era, but something the team will make note of heading into the draft because teams expect less needed development with older prospects. Simpson's Accuracy Wavered Tremendously 58.7% Accuracy Percentage Given The Variety Of Throws He Had To Attempt Operating Alabama's Offense. Some Plaudits Make Mechanics Aaron Accuracy Seem Like A Death Knell. Still, we've Witnessed Guys Like Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, and even Tom Brady Fix Their mechanical Base Issues In The Pro. So, is Ty deserving Of Quarterback Number One In The 2025 Draft? A better question: Does He Have To Be The Number One? No. Football Fans Have Witnessed The "Not Number One" Guys Develop Into High Profile Quarterbacks and All-Time Greats Ahead Of The Quarterbacks Draft Ahead Of Them. Simpson presents a Solid Second Who, unlike Mendoza, will get time to develop, as the team that drafts him won't want him to start immediately. Critics Knocked Simpson For His Light Aggressive Throw Diet, 11.7 yards per completion, 6.6yards per Dropback, 12.7% of his passes 20-plus yards downfield, Which Means Not every NFL Offense Will Fit His Skillset. Still, He Threw with great anticipation over the middle on a crossing route, making him a "Perfect" For Shanahan Base Offenses and further solidifying the Brock Purdy Comparisons.

pro Comp: Tyler Shough

3)Carson Beck, Quarterback, Miami—

Before He Accepted Millions To Ditch The Red, gray, and White Of Georgia For More Tropical Colors Of The Hurricanes of South Beach and Then Lead "The U" Through The College Football Playoffs and Back To The National, Carson Beck stood as the projected number one overall pick for the 2025 Draft. Of course, That Spot Went To Former Hurricanes Quarterback Cam Ward. Beck Took The College Football World By Storm as A Red Shirt sophomore in 2023, posting 3981 Passing Yards, 24 Touchdowns, 86 QBR, 72.4% Completion Percentage And One Year Didn't Build Enough Hype For His draft position. Another Season Of Similar Production Could Propel Beck Into A Near-Generational Talent Conversation. At The Start Of 204, fans and Scouts Expected Beck To Make A Leap In His Second Year as A Starter, and that added attention brought added scrutiny and added defensive Interest. Georgia Lost A lot Of Receiving Talent to the NFL, including tight end Brock Bowers(One Of The Best Tight Ends In The League) and Wide Receiver Ladd McConkey(a 1,000-yard receiver and the number one Receiver For The Chargers Offense A Season Ago). His Completion Percentage Dipped. Beck Transferred To Miami for His Sixth Season Of College Football, and While Nothing Short Of A Joe Burrow-level season could lift him back into top ten status as he enters the league, nearing 24 Years Old. Could He Revive The Sparkle In The Eyes Of Scout in His Game, or Would His Ball Placement And Accuracy Take Hold Of His Game? Beck's Numbers Rebounded in 2025 72.2% Completion Percentage, 30 Passing Touchdowns, but Still 12 Interceptions, 3,813 Passing Yards, 78.8 Passing Grade for the season, according to PFF. At 6'4 220 lbs, Beck Posses The Ideal Frame For an NFL quarterback. Off the rip, he gets the ball out of his hand quickly, 2.3 seconds, thanks in part to the elite pass catchers at Miami, including top Receiver Malachi Toney, Winning On Routes Early. In some RPO situations, Beck Either Neglects To Read The Defense Or Just Trusts In His Pre-Snap Read, and he launches passes downfield. Sometimes, he produced big plays; other times, he crashed and burned when receivers didn't Win Or Create Avenues. His Interception Against Indiana in the National Championship Game Closed The Door On Miami's national title hopes. Beck's ball placement and Accuracy Looked Excellent On Tape, and While The Ball Didn't jump out of his hands, he completed all of the necessary throws. His Work In tight windows and In Contested Catch Situations Could Use Some "Tweaking," despite His "Clean, smooth fundamentals in his throwing motion," Thanks In Part To A highly Regarded Baseball Background. Beck Sheltered Much Of His Mobility, Not Attempting Rushing Attempts, Just 22 Attempts On The Ground, One Touchdown, and a 90th Percentile Sack Rate. Miami's Offensive Play Calling Doesn't Fall On Beck Because, On The College Level, "Pro Level" Concepts And Progressions That Require A lot of words and installation don't Always Fit The Billing Without Pro Level Talent Across The Board. So, for the sake of blocking, Miami ran a read-option-based offense with the receivers and the Running Backs. Beck Makes Great Decisions With The Ball But The Execution Sometimes Lacks—His Two Interceptions Against Louisville Attest To His Flaws, and Not All Of His "Errors" Fall On Him But Executions Of His Decisions Vacillate and result in poor-quality play you don't want to see From A Guy with Six Years Of College Experience(High school Class of 2020). He Makes Predetermined Decisions With The Ball Too Frequently, Like He's Throwing To Guys Too Early Before They Come Open On Routes Down The Field Before The Defense Opens and reacts to the offense's movements.

Pro Comp: Carson Wentz

4)Drew Allar, Quarterback, Penn State—

In The Glut Of Quarterbacks Who Could've Earned Top Ten Picks In This years Draft and last year's draft, Drew Allar, Quarterback At Penn State, stands head and Shoulders Over Most, Quite Literally, Even When His Production Fails To Live Up To The Hype. Standing 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, With Arm Talent To Rival Zeus, Allar Entered His Fourth Season Of College With high Expectations After Leading Penn State To The College Football Semi-Finals Showcase "Prototype" Modern NFL Skills Like Throwing On The Move, opposite side field home run balls, but also An Ability To Make Safe Plays. Allar Decided To Remain At Penn State for his senior year despite the top-ten buzz, and that decision has rarely worked out in recent times. Allar Suffered A Broken Ankle after Just Six Games, sidelining Allar for the rest of the season. A Naturally Gifted Thrower, Allar Produced His Best Work As A Junior, 66.4% Completion Percentage, 3,327 Passing Yards, 24 Touchdowns To Just Eight Interceptions in 2024, 50.1% success rate, 7.4 yards per drop back through 2024-25(espn). Some Of The Knocks On Allar Start With his Lack of Aggression. He's not a Heavy Down Field Guy Despite His Arm Strength, and Success 32 Deep Attempts In 2024 and 13 in 2025(8% Of His Attempts), and Success 90.2 Passing Grade On Deep Attempts in 2024, 119.6 Passer Rating On Deep Throws in 2025. Critics Have Labeled Him "gun-shy" and A Player Who Lacks A "Killer Instinct," Preferring To Coast On Talent and Timely Throws rather Than Consistent Attacks On Defenses Highlighted By His Underwhelming Big Time Throw 2.5% Compared To The College Average Of 4.3%. Part Of The Problem, Penn State's tight Ends and running backs More Often Emerge as Their Top Receiving Options, whether Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson are both in the NFL or Last Season's Nicholas Singleton, who led Penn State In Receiving Grade In 2025. Penn State lacks truly elite receivers and has never replaced the leading receiver from 2024, Harrison Wallace II, and Could Never Replace A Player Of Tyler Warren's Caliber. Every Quarterback At Every Level Has Some Bad Tape, Bad Tendencies, and Bad Outcomes, but How Scouts and Execs Slice Up Those results paints a picture of a prospect or A Project. Allar Has Enough Tools And Upside To Command A Day Two, possibly Round Three Look By Some Team.

pro Comp: Dwayne Haskins(Rip)

5)Cade Klubnik, Quarterback, Clemson—

The Underwhelming Play Of Several Blue Chip Quarterbacks In Last Year's college football season proved to be one of the major factors that Pushed A relative Unknown Like Fernando Mendoza Into The Spotlight of this year's quarterback draft. Clemson's Cade Klubnik Enter The Year With Top Ten Pick Hype Fell Far From Grace In His Senior Year As Clemson's life in the post-Trevor Lawrence Era At Quarterback Hasn't Taken A Few Detour Despite A Few Five Star Prospects In House. Cade Stands 6'1 215 lbs, With A Phenomenal Athletic Background As a former 400 Meter State champion starter, three seasons at Clemson. After Stepping In For A Struggling DJ Uiagalelei in 2022, Cade Produced Three Years Of Starter Material But Despite Three Years Of Full Time Starter Play Cade Klubnik Regressed After A promising Junior Year. Klubnik regressed in his senior season, when most expected him to leap. His Numbers Dipped From 3639 Passing Yards, 36 passing touchdowns, 6 Picks, seven touchdowns on the ground, and a 148.2 passer rating. Production Fell To 2,943 Passing Yards, just 16 Touchdowns, and six Picks In 2025. Clemson's Offense Utilized Klubnik HEAVY in the RPO Spread Formation That Took Advantage Of Klubnik's Speed and mobility, but also his accuracy, while not overexposing him to many full read concepts. When Clemson's offense operated as constructed without breakdowns and Receivers Getting Open, Klubnik Hit His Receivers In Stride More Often Than Not, 1.7 Interception Rate To A 5.1 Touchdown Rate. He doesn't Attempt Too Many Bad Throws Within Clemson's borderline "Rudimentary" offense. He's Certainly A Ways Away From A Guy Like Simpson in terms of creating a throw downfield outside the structure of the play. Klubnik Played The Role Of A First Read Monster and Struggled If His Receiver Didn't Win The Route on First Read Or The Defense Took Away, So He's not reading the coverage, he's Just Predetermining His Routes Making Good Throws Or Scrambling Or Taking Sacks, 68 In His Three Years As A Starter. Klubnik doesn't possess a strong Arm That Can Force Open Closed Window Or Wizard Level Anticipation To See Ahead Of The Motion Or Defenders. Still, He's Great At Reseting His Base, His Footwork After Moving Out Of The pocket. Klubnik Possesses A lot of Tools In His Athleticism, and He Throws A Pretty Ball, Especially Down Field. Still, He's Limited In Terms Of Progressions, Processing, and Decision-Making Experience, and I don't believe any quarterback ahead of him has better "Project" Status. If You're Looking For A Complete Product, Mendoza and Simpson. If You're Looking For A Developmental Option, Klubnik Has Better Upside. He's Along The Same Lines As Jalen Hurts and Marcus Mariota When They Exited Oklahoma and Oregon, respectively, and at worst, he could develop into an upside backup in the NFL.

Pro Comp: Jalen Hurts