Hey, fun story: Remember when the 2027 QB class was supposed to be loaded? We spent the summer talking about six or seven potential first-rounders, including two names — Dante Moore and Arch Manning — who entered the season as my QB1 and QB2. Two months later, Moore's season is over after suffering a concussion vs.
USC in late September, and Manning has been so inconsistent we're wondering whether he should even enter the draft. And, now, for the third straight draft cycle, the preseason QB hype hasn't come close to matching what we've seen on the field. That doesn't mean there aren't first-round passers in this class; it just means figuring out which ones deserve to be there.
Darian Mensah is my QB1, and while the competition Miami has faced leaves some (possibly many) questions unanswered, he's been consistently outstanding. Meanwhile, Drew Mestemaker has gone from a quarterback few people were talking about to the most buzzworthy one after a hot start in Stillwater. I wrote about him after he outplayed Moore and Oregon early in the season, and we'll have to see if he decides to return to school for 2027.
And it's worth remembering that my preseason First-Round Readiness Score (FRED) model was higher on Mensah, Mestemaker and Jayden Maiava (all first-rounders in this mock draft) than some of the bigger names in this class. Meanwhile, Moore and Manning entered the season with more questions than their preseason draft projections might have suggested. Two months through the season, and what we've seen on the field has largely backed up what the model was telling us.
Of course, there's one name we haven't talked about, and he happens to be the best player in this class. He's also not a quarterback. The last time a non-QB went No. 1 overall was in 2022 when the Jaguars took pass rusher Travon Walker.
The last time a wide receiver was the first overall pick? Thirty-one years ago, when the Jets selected Keyshawn Johnson. Which brings us to Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith, who has been dominant since the day he arrived in Columbus.
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