Dante Moore is going back to school, something that's going to greatly shake up the NFL Draft. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza will still almost certainly go No. 1 overall to the Raiders, but now there's not a clear No. 2 quarterback in this class. Someone might take a shot on Ty Simpson later in the first like the Giants did with Jaxson Dart last season, but that's about it. Carson Beck and Cade Klubnik don't move the needle. Trinidad Chambliss is intriguing as a mid-round project, but he's no sure thing.
Meanwhile, Moore's decision to return to school makes an already-good 2027 quarterback class even better. In addition to Moore, 2027 is likely to feature Arch Manning, Sam Leavitt, Brendan Sorsby, Josh Hoover, Julian Sayin and LaNorris Sellers, as well as other players with potential like D.J. Lagway and Nico Iamaleava. It's not exactly the star-studded 2024 class, but it's a strong one, and a lot of teams who need quarterbacks should be looking ahead to 2027 instead of settling for a middling 2026 prospect. Here are some of those teams and the reasons why they should wait.
New York Jets
The biggest losers of Moore's return to Oregon is the New York Jets, who looked poised to make him the No. 2 overall pick, a move that might have finally solved the team's seemingly unending search for a franchise quarterback. Instead, the team will need a stopgap option to get them through to 2027, where they...might just end up drafting Moore anyway.
My final message to Dante Moore as a Jets fan: if you’re not with us when we’re 3-14, don’t hop on the bandwagon next year when we’re 3-14.
— Tony Vegas (@tonypayments) January 14, 2026
So, what do the Jets do now? I can't imagine they're okay with anyone on the current roster being the 2026 starter, but there's no point in overpaying for any of the available free agents either. Maybe you sign Marcus Mariota to a one-year deal? Malik Willis is intriguing, but you would likely have to spend too much on him.
One option is to draft a quarterback on Day 2 or Day 3. Chambliss is intriguing, and you can draft him late enough that you aren't really out anything if he proves he's not up to being an NFL starter. New York will likely still be in position then to draft a quarterback next season, and hey — that quarterback could end up being Moore anyway.
Cleveland Browns
Shedeur Sanders probably isn't the answer for the Cleveland Browns. His turnover issues are a problem. His pocket awareness needs work. He showed some flashes with his arm, but largely struggled in his limited rookie action.
But with no quarterback in this class worth drafting at No. 6, the Browns are probably stuck going with Sanders for the 2026 season. Sure, there's a chance Simpson is there at No. 24, but the Browns have spent so much time living in a quarterback nightmare that using a late first on someone who isn't a sure thing just feels like another move in a long line of failed moves for this franchise.
QBs drafted in the 20s by Cleveland | Win/Loss Record as Browns Starter |
|---|---|
Johnny Manziel | 2-6 |
Brandon Weeden | 5-15 |
Brady Quinn | 3-9 |
With bad teams like the Raiders, Titans and Giants likely to be a solid bit better in 2026, the Browns should be able to lose their way into a top-three pick. That should be bad enough to land either Manning or Moore, unless Cleveland ends up picking third behind the Jets and Cardinals. Even then, I'd rather take a shot on Leavitt or a potential riser who emerges next season.
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are at a crossroads. The team has already moved on from head coach Mike McDaniel, and now the question is what to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It's clear he's no longer in the team's future plans, but moving on fro him this year would kill the team's cap. Making Tagovailoa a post-June 1 cut would mean a $67.4 million dead cap hit in 2026 and a $31.8 million hit in 2027.
But cutting him after the 2026 season makes things a lot more manageable. I know the Dolphins don't want to go into 2026 with Tagovailoa as their quarterback, but it makes sense to keep him around for one more year and then move on at a point where moving on doesn't destroy the team's flexibility. It's not ideal, but unless there's a team willing to trade for Tagovailoa (and his contract), Miami is caught in a rough situation. The easiest thing to do might just be to keep Tagovailoa on the bench and see if Quinn Ewers can do enough to earn the long-term job, or do so little that Miami winds up with a top draft pick.
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals' best path forward was always to treat 2026 as a gap year. That got slightly complicated as the team's losing streak hit nine games and Arizona made it higher and higher in the draft order, but with Moore going back to school, the answer is still to wait things out and try again in 2027.
Arizona's big concern this offseason is what to do with Kyler Murray. Theoretically, there should be more of a trade market for Murray than there is for Tagovailoa, but even a post-June 1 trade would leave a little over $27.7 million in dead cap for 2026, making it hard for the team to get into the Malik Willis market. Maybe just give Jacoby Brissett a second season as the tank commander?
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Mike Tomlin era might be over for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but for at least one more season, the team likely has to continue doing the thing that ultimately led to so much frustration from the fanbase toward Tomlin: make do with a stopgap quarterback option.
The difference here is that I do think there's one player Pittsburgh can sign who might take them out of the running for a 2027 quarterback: Malik Willis. He's shown flashes in Green Bay and is the only available free agent with the upside to be a team's long-term starter. Pittsburgh has a roster that could probably be a playoff contender with Willis at quarterback.
Sure, the Steelers could be a landing spot for Simpson late in the first round, but I'm not sure the new regime wants to lock itself into a rookie quarterback without much upside. That's the kind of move that's kept the Steelers in purgatory. If the team misses out on Willis, it's probably better to actively strive for a top pick in 2027. Start Mason Rudolph. Embrace the tank. Draft one of the many options you'll have to draft next year.
(This is, of course, my analysis of what the Steelers should do. Knowing Pittsburgh, there's probably like a 95 percent chance the team just drafts Simpson at No. 21 and hopes that this mid-first quarterback goes over better than its last mid-first quarterback, Kenny Pickett. I think it's the wrong move — the teams that should be looking at Simpson are teams with older quarterbacks with the luxury to let him sit for a bit, by which I mean the Rams. The Rams are the only team that should spend a first-round pick on Simpson. Unfortunately for Simpson and his NFL future, he'll probably go to Pittsburgh and will be pressed into game action too soon.)