If your team needs a quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft, the first week of the college football season wasn't exactly what you want to see. This is supposed to be a huge year for quarterbacks, potentially featuring the likes of Arch Manning, Garrett Nussmeier, Cade Klubnik, LaNorris Sellers, Fernando Mendoza, Drew Allar, and more wild card options like Nico Iamaleava.
Unfortunately, Week 1 of the college season was not the greatest example of the best of what all these prospects bring to the table.
Maybe especially so in the case of guys like Arch Manning and Cade Klubnik. But one game doesn't define these guys as prospects, and it doesn't sink their 2026 NFL Draft stock.
2026 NFL Draft quarterback class largely gets off to a slow start
Arch Manning had to go up against one of the best defenses in the country and a former Super Bowl champion NFL defensive coordinator. And he did not do well.
Cade Klubnik and Garrett Nussmeier were pitted against a couple of defenses that will send a number of players to the NFL next year.
Drew Allar barely had to play in Penn State's rout of Nevada.
Nico Iameleava got humbled by Utah.
In other words, this season is going to need to be evaluated on the whole. It can be tempting to look at each individual week as a stock report for prospects, but that's not how the NFL evaluates. The NFL always evaluates traits plus tape, and the entire body of work. Each game in a given week is merely a slice of a giant pie, or one piece in a giant puzzle as they're forming their evaluations overall.
But no matter what way you slice it, this wasn't an inspiring week for teams on the lookout already for 2026 NFL Draft prospects. And there are many. We already had a third of the league changing starters in 2025, and we could have another round of wholesale changes made in 2026.
Teams are counting on these guys taking the proverbial step forward, and of course (selfishly), everyone wants to see them hit the ground running in Week 1. But ultimately, these rough outings early in the season can help refocus these players as the season progresses. Maybe the adrenaline was in overdrive. Maybe they are dealing with undisclosed injuries.
Regardless, now is the time to exercise patience and believe in the evaluations you had prior to the season. Of course, the full body of work this season will cause those evaluations to change -- for better or worse -- but one game isn't going to sink an entire quarterback class, regardless if we're talking about Arch Manning or any of these other 1st-round hopefuls.