Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) leaves the field following the 14-7 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the NCAA football game at Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30, 2025.
While most fans believe that Arch Manning is the top quarterback prospect in the 2027 NFL Draft, it appears that NFL scouts don’t exactly see things the same way.
In a recent poll run by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Manning finished a distant second to Oregon’s Dante Moore when asked which quarterback scouts would take first off the board.
Moore received 14 first-place votes, doubling up Manning. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers was the only other QB to receive multiple votes in the poll.
Sellers received a pair of votes, while LSU’s Sam Leavitt and Notre Dame’s CJ Carr each earned one.
Why Do NFL Scouts Like Dante Moore Over Arch Manning?
Moore’s overall production appears to be what earned him the number one spot ahead of Manning. But perhaps more interesting than that is the sheer number of quarterbacks that scouts and executives believe could go in the first round.
Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, Miami’s Darian Mensah, and several others all received acknowledgment for their potential to move up draft boards.
“That’s crazy,” one NFL executive said of how deep the draft class is “I just don’t know the last time that’s happened. But again, how many of those [dozen or so] will actually come out and have good years? Also, there’s always the Cam Wards — a guy people aren’t talking about that’s all of a sudden in the top 30.”
Surely, there will be plenty of twists and turns before we get to next year’s draft. And we could look back at that point and say Arch, or someone else, was always the clear No. 1 option. But for the time being, Manning has some catching up to do.