On Thursday, ESPN’s Field Yates gave his early projections for the top-10 picks in the 2027 NFL Draft based on the current projected draft order.
As the weeks go by and Texas quarterback Arch Manning continues to underwhelm, more and more NFL Draft analysts are starting to sour on him as a 2027 pro prospect. The latest is ESPN’s Field Yates and Jordan Reid, who didn’t have Manning anywhere close to the top-10 in the upcoming draft.
Unsurprisingly, Yates had Ohio State’s all-world wide receiver Jeremiah Smith as the top pick to the Chargers, then Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker going to the Miami Dolphins. Notre Dame QB CJ Carr he has going to the New York Jets at No. 7 and Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss to the Arizona Cardinals at No. 9.
But as far as a ranking of the top-50 players purely based on talent, Mestemaker was the only quarterback Reid had in the top-10. Chambliss ranked 15th, Miami’s Darian Mensah was 17th, Carr was 21st and Missouri’s Austin Simmons was 24th. Dante Moore was 37th.
Suffice it to say, Yates and Reid either anticipates Manning returning to college in 2027 or just plain don’t see him as a top-50 prospect in next year’s draft, let alone a top-10 pick.
Plummeting Stock
Manning was seen as a top-10 and even No. 1 overall pick in the draft before he even played a down in college due in no small part to his last name. But after starting his first two seasons as a backup in Texas, Manning didn’t get his real taste of extended action until 2025.
As a starter last year, Manning played well enough to lead them to a 9-3 overall record and only narrowly missed the College Football Playoff. But he decided to forego the NFL Draft and return to college for another year.
Thus far, that decision has proven disastrous.
Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images.
Manning and the Longhorns are 4-2 right now and ranked No. 19 in the country less than two weeks after ranking No. 1 for the better part of a month. It’s hard to point the fingers at anyone other than Manning or head coach Steve Sarkisian as some of the turnovers that Manning has committed are downright unacceptable at any level.
More and more analysts now expect Manning to return to college, and possibly even transfer, in order to get one more year of football under his belt before going pro. Though at this point, even another year-plus of football may not be enough to make him the same highly-touted draft prospect that his two famous uncles or grandfather were.
