Did you get your fix of Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart? The NFL draft’s quarterback class always demands attention. In the 2025 cycle, that meant choosing a flavor and, in some cases, placing cautious optimism behind the preferred choice.
Ward, Sanders, Dart and the rest of the 2025 draft class are just starting their professional careers. One year prior, they found themselves on lists like this: way-too-early rankings off the film from the season before.
Now, it’s the 2026 quarterback class’s turn.
Let’s address a few topics.
- Texas quarterback Arch Manning isn’t on this list. It’s not an oversight or a knock on his talent. Manning has pedigree, and his early flashes at Texas are promising. But they’re also just that: flashes. He’s started two games, thrown 95 career passes and will be entering his first season as the full-time starter. Before jumping to any conclusions about the redshirt sophomore, let’s give him a chance to assemble a valid sample size.
- There will be redshirt sophomores included on this list. Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava each started and impressed in 2024. Of course, whether they enter the 2026 draft remains to be seen, but they’re certainly on professional radars.
- There are several quarterbacks on this list with the tools to become the No. 1 passer in the class or be chosen in the first round. Part of summer scouting is projecting players’ growth in specific aspects of their game. Not all of them make that step, and their stock suffers as a result.
Here’s an early look at the top 10 quarterbacks in the 2026 draft class:
1. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
The son of six-year NFL quarterback and New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, Garrett Nussmeier is a natural-born signal-caller. He’s a fluid passer with a quality arm, and he has tremendous feel for pressure and maneuvering the pocket at 6' 2" and 200 pounds. Nussmeier is accurate to all parts of the field, though he needs to find more consistency with his vertical shots. He’s comfortable threading tight windows and throwing into small gaps in zone coverage. Nussmeier occasionally bails out of the pocket prematurely, and he’s a drifter who throws from an unsettled foundation too often. He needs to hasten his progressions and prove he can process full-field reads in 2025.
2. Drew Allar, Penn State
When Allar is in sync, he glows with starter-level tools. The 6' 5", 236-pounder is a traditional big-bodied pocket passer who generates terrific velocity on his throws and has an elastic arm capable of producing different throwing angles. He’s impressive working inside of structure, can get through full-field reads and has a solid feel for managing the pocket. Allar is an average athlete who can escape immediate pressure and be a factor in the option game, but he’s not the type of runner teams form their game plan around. Allar has sporadic accuracy—he has too many uncompetitive misses, and his ball placement is too often late, low or behind his receiver. Penn State’s offense didn’t task Allar with pushing throws downfield. His arm is strong enough to challenge defenses vertically, but much of his work is in the short and intermediate game, though he can hit all quadrants of the field. He threw six more interceptions in 2024 than ’23 despite tossing only five more passes. Allar’s size, arm strength and glimpses of accuracy create an intriguing upside—he just needs to blend it together more frequently.
3. Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Klubnik is a twitchy passer with a quality blend of arm strength, athleticism and three-level accuracy. Smooth mechanically with the intelligence to hasten and/or stagger his dropbacks when pressure comes, Klubnik has lapses in decision making but is all-around steady above the neck. He can speed up his postsnap processing quickness, though he’s proven capable of working through reads and breaking off his first or second target. Klubnik has the burst and suddenness to make defenders miss in the pocket and be a viable scramble threat. He has experience in the option game and has taken snaps under center. Klubnik, who stands 6' 2" and 210 pounds, has first-round talent. How early he goes depends on whether he can take a similar step forward into 2025 as he did last season.
4. Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
Leavitt makes the game harder than it needs to be, but he also makes it more enjoyable. The rising redshirt sophomore has a strong arm and can drive bullets downfield. Tight windows are accessible to him, and he hits big plays routinely. Leavitt is also a fluid, explosive athlete who’s potent at scrambling and extending plays, and he’s fast and elusive enough to be a factor in the option game. There’s an element of nonchalance to his play style—he’s a naturally gifted passer, and his accuracy and ball placement is usually quite solid. Leavitt sticks on his first read too long at times and needs to prove he can work through an entire progression on a consistent basis. He’s creative and a playmaker, but embracing the mundane and winning more often from the pocket in 2025 will also help his stock. But there’s little denying the 6' 2", 200-pounder has the athleticism, arm talent, accuracy and moxie to be an early pick whenever he enters the draft.
5. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana
Mendoza transferred in December from California to Indiana, which produced seventh-round pick Kurtis Rourke in 2024. Mendoza has the tools to go much earlier. The 6' 5", 225-pounder has a quick release, strong arm and athleticism to extend plays. Mendoza’s most common miss is high, but he’s accurate enough to thread tight windows and generate run-after-catch opportunities for his receivers. He maneuvers the pocket well, though his internal clock turns on and off—he can be late to feel pressure sometimes, and bails out of pockets prematurely. His anticipatory throws at Cal weren’t always met with catch readiness, but his feel for route breaks impressed. Mendoza has a quality baseline of tools. He just needs to put it together at a high level in 2025.
6. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Sellers is a tremendous athlete who’s difficult to contain and bring down in the pocket. He’s twitchy, fast and strong, and he pairs those traits with the contact balance necessary to bounce off would-be tacklers. He’s also tough and competitive and makes plays when others would be more hesitant. The 6' 3", 242-pounder has a quality build and strong arm, though he needs to prove he can win more frequently inside structure. Too many of his highs come off-script, and he must process quicker in 2025. Sellers, who’s entering his redshirt sophomore season, has the size, athleticism and intangibles to take a significant step forward.
7. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA
The biggest question mark for Iamaleava: How will the NFL view his sudden spring exit from Tennessee? The answer may not come until teams spend time with him during the predraft process. But on the field, Iamaleava has plenty of tools. At 6' 6" and 215 pounds, he’s big, athletic and strong-armed; his passes have considerable zip to them, and he can attack the middle of the field as a result. He uses his eyes more to look off safeties than go through his progressions, and he’ll need to show at UCLA he can handle a more nuanced offensive attack than his space-oriented, one-read system at Tennessee. Iamaleava’s downfield accuracy is inconsistent, as is his feel for pressure. He can break free from defenders in space due to his fluidity and twitch, and while he’s not a game-breaking runner, he’s certainly capable of winning with his legs.
8. Taylen Green, Arkansas
Physically impressive at 6' 6" and 224 pounds, Green is a dual-threat quarterback with a strong arm and a track record of productivity. He’s difficult to sack due to his feel for pressure, suddenness, burst and creativity, and his long strides help him cover significant grass when he breaks contain. Green has solid eyes—he can hold safeties and has proven he can work through reads—and field vision, and he throws with anticipation before receivers exit their breaks. Green needs to identify pressure sooner, hasten his drops and get the ball out quicker against blitzes. He’s never completed greater than 61.3% of his passes across three seasons as a starter, but flashes accuracy to all three levels of the field. Green has the physical and athletic tools, intelligence, playmaking mentality, and production to warrant next-level looks. The extent of those looks depends on his passing growth in 2025.
9. Miller Moss, Louisville
Stepping into the shoes of second-round pick Tyler Shough, Moss hopes for a similarly reinvigorating stint at Louisville. A transfer from USC, Moss throws with quality anticipation, is tough in the pocket and has proven he can work through—and back to—progressions. Moss is smart and identifies coverages well pre- and postsnap. He’s a mechanical thrower whose accuracy suffers when squaring to his target or setting his base, and his lack of high-end size—he’s 6' 1" and 205 pounds—leads to deflected passes at the line of scrimmage. Moss isn’t elite in the arm strength or athleticism categories, but solid in both, and his ball placement is often above average. He has shades of one of Shough’s new Saints teammates, Jake Haener, with his competitiveness, accuracy, anticipation, poise and lack of elite physical tools.
10. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor
A redshirt senior who’s started only 14 games in his career, Robertson will enter his first full season with the first-team offense. He easily checks the physical boxes, as the 6' 4", 220-pounder has a strong arm and explosive straightline speed. Robertson’s legs are a weapon, and he can push the ball downfield. Robertson, who transferred to Baylor in 2023 after two years at Mississippi State, made strides with his eyes postsnap in ’24, but needs to become more manipulative and work through his progressions more consistently this fall. Accuracy-wise, Robertson sometimes attacks the wrong half of his receiver’s leverage, leaving defensive backs a path to the ball, but he’s also shown pinpoint placement over the middle. If Robertson builds off his encouraging 2024, he could go much sooner.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2026 NFL Draft: Top QB Prospects Led by Garrett Nussmeier and Drew Allar.