‘There’s so much QB talent in next year’s draft’

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 31: Arch Manning #16 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates his 60-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter of the 2025 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines at Camping World Stadium on December 31, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Dustin Markland/Getty Images) | Getty Images When the Los Angeles Rams drafted Ty Simpson on Thursday, one of the criticisms of the pick was that “next year’s quarterback class is better” with an expectation that players like Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Brendan Sorsby, Julian Sayin, C. J.

Carr, LaNorris and others will headline a 2027 draft for the ages. However, this was also used as a reason not to draft quarterbacks in 2025 when Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart were the only first round picks because “next year’s class will be so much better”, which not coincidentally also included Manning and Sellers. Field Yates, who I think got the job as ESPN’s lead draft analyst by filling out an online application, mocked six quarterbacks in the top-16 of his “way too early” 2026 mock draft from last year : pic.

twitter. com/4ENMTaPRzO — no context college football (@nocontextcfb) April 25, 2026 Yates had Manning and Sellers going 1-2, Cade Klubnik going third, Sam Leavitt going ninth, Drew Allar going 11th, and Garrett Nussmeier going 16th. What really happened?

Well, Manning fanatics (Manatics? ) insist that he was always going to return to school in 2026, which is a really easy claim to make after Arch had such a disappointing debut season as Texas’s starter. This hasn’t deterred analysts from once again projecting Arch Manning as the first overall pick in next year’s draft.