Five College Football QBs Who Could Be a Future No. 1 NFL Draft Pick

This April, Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza will hear his name called by Roger Goodell as the very first pick of the 2026 NFL draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Mendoza will be the fourth quarterback in a row to go No. 1 overall, and the eighth QB in the last nine drafts to kick off the draft.

The draft will always be dictated by the best quarterbacks in the game, just like the Heisman Trophy. Who could be the next in a long line of Heisman winners who go on to the NFL, a la Mendoza, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, and Joe Burrow?

These five names stand above the rest.

Arch Manning, Texas

There have already been two Mannings to be selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft: Peyton, out of the University of Tennessee in 1998, and Eli, out of Ole Miss in 2004. It's Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning's destiny to join his uncles in 2027.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian gave Arch plenty of weapons in the transfer portal to get him there: a pair of downhill running backs in Arizona State Sun Devils transfer Raleek Brown and NC State Wolfpack transfer Hollywood Smothers, and a potential WR1 in Auburn Tigers transfer Cam Coleman.

If Arch continues on the trajectory he was on in the latter half of the 2025 season and the Longhorns lose two games or fewer before championship weekend, he'll be a Heisman frontrunner and a slam-dunk No. 1 overall pick in 2027.

Sam Leavitt, LSU

Sam Leavitt, like Manning, is already being paid like a QB1. Being that he's already proven himself at Arizona State, Leavitt enters the 2026 season as one of the consensus top QBs in the sport. If he can bring the LSU Tigers back to CFP relevancy, though, Leavitt will have NFL front offices believing in his ability to restore their franchise.

The only experience Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft is bungling LSU legend JaMarcus Russell's NFL career and publicly decrying the then-Oakland Raiders' planned franchise pillar in his two years in charge in the Bay Area.

If his QB-whispering could elevate Leavitt's dual-threat repertoire, because certainly, he added plenty of trench talent to give him the time to make plays, then Leavitt could be a threat to Manning's place at the top of draftboards next year.

Dante Moore, Oregon

Dante Moore surprisingly returned to the Oregon Ducks for the 2026 season, sending Nebraska Cornhuskers transfer Dylan Raiola to the bench. Moore clearly feels there's unfinished business in Eugene. And with good reason.

Moore's stats were out of this world in 2025: 47.4% of his passes resulted in either a first down or a touchdown, and he finished the year with 3,565 passing yards, 30 touchdown passes, and a 71.8% completion rate.

Like Leavitt, Moore could also threaten Manning at the top of the 2027 draft. With Will Stein gone, Moore could use the 2026 season under Drew Mehringer to prove that he can be that good with any play-caller in any formation.

It's hard to bet against another leap from someone who's made good on the promise most saw in him when he initially committed to the UCLA Bruins ahead of the 2023 season.

Julian Sayin, Ohio State

Having already been named a Heisman finalist in his redshirt freshman season and winning a title during his true freshman season, some in the NFL may already see Julian Sayin as a potential 2027 first-round pick.

While Sayin could likely sleepwalk his way to a first-round selection in a run-heavy, Arthur Smith-coached offense after finishing 2025 with a 78.43% completion percentage surrounded by NFL talent, he could use another two years in Columbus to solidify No. 1 pick status for the 2028 draft.

Sayin is great when the pocket isn't collapsing, but he can improve his improvisation during broken plays. He's not quite at an NFL level of execution, relying a bit too much on the script going according to plan.

If he can play two years with Smith, Sayin would be able to adjust to a pro-style pace. The problem is that if everything works out in 2026 for the Buckeyes' offense, there'd be little chance of the two getting another year together.

Bryce Underwood, Michigan

No one would think Bryce Underwood is No. 1 pick material based on his freshman season with the Michigan Wolverines last fall. There's a chance he's labeled a bust after the 2026 College Football season, playing for a new head coach and offensive coordinator who didn't recruit him, in Kyle Whittingham and Jason Beck.

Underwood has the talent to be a No. 1 pick, though. He just needs to land in the right situation. Perhaps he can reconsider LSU, which is now a much preferable landing spot with Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. running the show than when he committed to Brian Kelly and Joe Sloan.

Underwood was the No. 1 recruit in his class. While it's hard to tell right now, and it may only get cloudier over the next nine months in Ann Arbor, Underwood is a potential 2029 or 2030 top overall NFL draft pick. An underwhelming freshman year shouldn't have anyone thinking the door is closed for the former Belleville (MI) star.