If there's a lesson about projecting the quarterback position for the NFL draft in recent years, it's that any long-term predictions could quickly look outdated.
Consider the past two NFL drafts. Both Cam Ward and Fernando Mendoza weren't in the conversation for the top pick until well into their final seasons at Miami and Indiana, respectively. Both ended up No. 1.
Last year at this time, NFL evaluators were bullish on the high-end potential of the current quarterback class, with names such as Arch Manning, LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier at the tips of their tongues.
With history as fair warning, here's the latest quarterback projection looming over NFL front offices -- the 2027 quarterback class has the potential to be an unusually deep and intriguing crop.
After consecutive drafts in 2025 and 2026 light on high-end quarterback talent, there's optimism in NFL front offices that the quarterback haul in 2027 projects as a once-a-decade type crop. The depth of quality prospects in particular stands out to scouts and executives.
ESPN polled 10 NFL scouts for their way-too-early top three quarterback projections for the 2027 class. Three players got votes for the top spot -- Oregon's Dante Moore, Texas' Arch Manning and Ohio State's Julian Sayin. Overall, nine different players showed up on the 10 NFL scouts' ballots, showing the potential depth of the class.
In terms of votes -- three points for a first-place vote, two for a second, and one for a third -- the poll finished this way:
1. Dante Moore, Oregon (24)
2. Arch Manning, Texas (16)
T3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (5)
T3. Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech (5)
5. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina (3)
T6. Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State (2)
T6. Sam Leavitt, LSU (2)
T6. CJ Carr, Notre Dame (2)
9. Darian Mensah, Miami (1)
The scouts stress that this is an imperfect exercise, as they haven't come close to closely watching all the quarterbacks for the 2027 draft. Many have inherent regional biases because they haven't yet needed to watch the prospects who become draft eligible after the 2026 season.
The poll serves more as a bellwether for the depth of talent at quarterback in college football for the 2026 season than any type of specific predictive tool.
Conversations with NFL scouts and front office officials indicate that at this early juncture there's at least 15 quarterbacks who could conceivably be considered in the first-round conversation.
Along with the nine players who received votes, the names bandied around who didn't receive votes that could end up in the first-round conversation include Penn State's Rocco Becht, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, Indiana's Josh Hoover, UCLA's Nico Iamaleava, USC's Jayden Maiava and Oklahoma's John Mateer.
There's certainly others who could work their way into the first-round conversation, as guys such as CJ Bailey of NC State, Washington's Demond Williams Jr. and Austin Simmons of Missouri were mentioned by scouts as players they were intrigued by. There are still some members of the DJ Lagway fan club, as his tools remain intriguing after moving from Florida to Baylor.
"That's an impressive list," one veteran NFL scout said. "That's a crazy quarterback list."
Inevitably, some of these quarterbacks with remaining eligibility will end up returning to school because of the crowded class. The top quarterbacks in college football are making more than $5 million per year, which puts them in line with the No. 11 NFL draft pick's 2026 salary.