Just before the start of the 2025 season, former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was the co-betting favorite to be selected at No. 1 overall in the 2026 draft.
A lot has changed since then, with the Raiders now widely expected to select Fernando Mendoza with the top pick in April after he won the Heisman Trophy and the CFP national championship, going an undefeated 16-0 with Indiana.
Nussmeier, on the other hand, had a season marred by an injury suffered early on in training camp, as he detailed during his Friday press conference at the scouting combine.
“My injury occurred in fall camp — Day 2, practice two of fall camp,” Nussmeier said. “How much did it affect me? I think it was pretty evident. I really wasn’t able to throw the football. I had a stabbing pain in my ab every time I went to go throw the ball. And we weren’t able to figure out exactly what it was.
“It was a frustrating deal, and it wasn’t LSU’s fault. It wasn’t the doctor’s fault. They did a great job of taking care of me and the trainers there. It was just a rare deal. It was just a thing that we really didn’t figure out what it was until about two months ago.”
Nussmeier added that he has been making a lot of progress over the last month.
“And so, [I’m] feeling much more like myself, which has been exciting,” Nussmeier said. “Learning how to retrain myself, get rid of the bad habits that I had created and just to be able to get to throw the football like I know I can.”
As Nussmeier put it, not being able to use his core as he was accustomed to was a tough adjustment and led to those habits.
“[W]hether it was arm angles or things with my feet and trying to turn around my hips and set up my abs and things like that — so just more of learning how to use my abdomen again as I’m throwing the ball,” Nussmeier said.
Fortunately for Nussmeier, he’s more than on the mend and should be as effective as he expects to be for any team that selects him in April.
“It was just a rare deal, and I won’t get into the specifics of what it was, but now being able to attack the actual injury and rehabbing, I’m feeling a lot better,” Nussmeier said. “I’m at 100 percent, if not close to it, and starting to feel like myself again.
“It’s been awesome.”
Quarterback Drew Allar did not have the final season at Penn State he envisioned when he decided to return to the school for his senior season.
He said on Friday that he wanted to play for a Big Ten championship and a potential national championship — goals that seemed realistic after the Nittany Lions lost to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals.
But that did not work out in 2025, as Penn State lost three straight to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern, leading to the firing of former head coach James Franklin. To make matters worse, Allar suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the Northwestern loss, which also meant the end of his collegiate career.
While Allar will not participate in most drills at the scouting combine this week, his ankle has healed enough for him to throw.
“I mean, if I had to play a game today or tomorrow,” Allar said in his Friday press conference, “I feel like I could go out there and get it done.
“As soon as I really got back to school and started my rehab process, my whole focus toward my rehab process was getting to this point, being healthy enough to have the chance to put myself out there and throw,” Allar added. “So, I’m really excited to go out there on Saturday and cut it loose.”
Allar will be able to showcase his throwing ability, having said on Friday that he does feel like he has the best arm in this year’s QB class.
“I personally do think I do,” Allar said. “I’m not saying that out of cockiness or anything like that, it’s just something I truly believe in. I knew this opportunity would come around for me, hopefully. So I was just trying to prepare myself to put myself in a good position to go out and throw.”
What else separates Allar from the other QBs in the class?
“I would say mentally, my ability to process information,” Allar said. “Our offense at Penn State, they put a lot on me in terms of the verbiage of our play calls and the responsibilities pre-snap and post-snap. So, I feel like I have been really well prepared for that aspect because the NFL, they’re going to put a lot on the quarterbacks mentally with the pre-snap operation and everything like that.
“Physically, I have a lot of trust in the ability of my arm talent and I’ve been working relentlessly to get as consistent as I can and just find different ways to get better.”
Like most players, Allar is one who shuts out the noise from outside criticism, saying the most important opinions to him are those of his teammates and coaches.
“All that really matters to me is the opinions of my coaches and teammates and just earning their respect, going out there and producing, impacting the game in a meaningful way that can turn into wins — no matter what my stats may look like,” Allar said. “The most important thing to me is just going out and winning football games.”
And even though his final collegiate season did not work out the way he would have liked, he doesn’t regret staying at Penn State in 2025.
“Obviously, it’s not what I envisioned,” Allar said. “I’m a firm believer in, ‘everything happens for a reason,’ and I’ve just taken this opportunity through this injury to better myself as a person, teammate, and as a player.
“So, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
The Browns have three quarterbacks on their roster. Yet, even after drafting Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders last year, the Browns could draft another quarterback this year.
If they do, University of Miami’s Carson Beck makes a lot of sense.
Beck spent three years with new Browns coach Todd Monken at Georgia before transferring to Miami. Monken was the offensive coordinator for 34 of Beck’s games, when Beck passed for 7,736 yards with 56 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
“I love him personally,” “I’ve actually known him since I was 7 or 8 years old. I played baseball with his son whenever he was the wide receivers coach with the Jags. That’s cool. I’ve been able to have a really good relationship with him over the years, and obviously at Georgia, he taught me a lot of what I know. He’s amazing coach. I had the opportunity to talk with him a little bit the other day when I was done with all my interviews. We walked and chatted for a little bit. I love Coach Monk. He’s an awesome coach and great guy.”
Beck had a formal interview with the Browns, one of many so far. He also said he has met with the Jets, Steelers and Dolphins, among others.
Beck might be one of the few quarterbacks ever who would actually relish being drafted by the Browns.
“That would obviously be super cool,” Beck said. “Any team that’s going to draft me, I’m super grateful for the opportunity, but if coach Monken were to be my coach again, obviously I really enjoyed him being my coach at the University of Georgia, and what I was able learn from him there. So, I’d be super stoked.”
Beck played six college seasons, passing for 11,725 yards with 88 touchdowns and 32 interceptions.
“It’s been a super cool journey,” Beck said. “Obviously, it feels like I was in college forever, but again, everybody’s path is different. I’m truly blessed and grateful that my path went the way it did. It’s a lot easier to say that looking back at it now, but you’re in the middle of a grind of a season or you’re in the middle the rehab and I can’t throw a football for four months, and you don’t know what your future is going to look like. To get to this point, and to have the injury and battle through that and fight through that, and have the success of some of these great teams I’ve been a part of it, it’s been a really cool experience. I’m obviously super blessed and grateful to even be able to stand in front of you today.”
Georgia tight end Oscar Delp will not participate in drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, but it is not by choice.
Zach Klein of WSB reports that the NFL will not allow Delp to participate due to liability issues. A routine X-ray in the medical portion of the combine revealed a hairline fracture in Delp’s foot, per Klein.
Delp is planning to participate fully in Georgia’s Pro Day on March 18.
Delp played 55 games, with 34 starts, and totaled 70 receptions for 854 yards and nine touchdowns. That includes 21 receptions for 248 yards and four touchdowns in 2025.
“I don’t know if there is a better offense to be a part of [to prepare you for the NFL],” Delp said. “I get here and there are teams who are installing plays, and they are asking me to recall it back. It’s basically our exact formations, our exact plays that we were running a little bit of different verbiage. We’ve run the closet thing I’ve seen to a pro-style offense.”
Delp is one of 10 players from Georgia at the combine.
When former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia didn’t win the Heisman Trophy in December, he didn’t take it well.
The “F— all the voters” reaction was a clear misstep, one for which Pavia apologized. But it doesn’t take away from what Pavia accomplished in his six years at the college level, which put him in a position to be at the 2026 scouting combine this week and potentially selected in this year’s draft.
Pavia said on Friday that teams have not asked him about that incident from December in his meetings this week.
Does that surprise him?
“No, I just think they — not that they don’t care or whatever, but they kind of know the situation already,” Pavia said in his press conference.
While this was a situation Pavia created from his reaction, there have been others that have sprung up for different reasons. Pavia chalks that up to the media being the media in the 21st century.
“One thing about me is I don’t care what people think about me,” Pavia said. “I think that just comes from [feeling like] God has a plan for me regardless. But, the way the media is, they’re supposed to put out clickbait and things like that. That’s how people get views, and that’s how people make money. I understand that. And so, people will twist a story and try to put out bad media to get clicks, good media to get clicks.
“But that’s just today’s world that we live in. So, I’m just adjusting to the new world.”
On Thursday, Pavia’s Vanderbilt teammate, tight end Eli Stowers, said there are “a lot” of misconceptions about Pavia.
“Certain things go out in the media and narratives get written, but in reality, as a person, I love him to death,” Stowers said. “That kid cares about everybody in his life. He loves everybody in his life. He’s the best teammate you could have. I was roommates with him for the last two years, and it was an amazing experience.”
While Vanderbilt generously listed Pavia as 6-feet tall, he measured in at 5-foot-9 and 7/8 at the Senior Bowl in January. That would make him the shortest quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger if he were to make it.
Despite that size, Pavia feels like he has the juice to play at the highest level.
“I would just say turn on the tape,” Pavia said. “It’s not like we’re not playing these guys who are going first round, second round on Saturdays in the SEC. So, I know the SEC and the Big Ten probably have the most guys drafted in the first and second round. So, we’re playing those guys and ain’t nothing going to change.
“I played six years of college football,” Pavia later added. “I played two at JUCO, two at New Mexico State, two at Vanderbilt. I’ve seen a lot of football. I feel like I can process a defense really fast, get the ball where it needs to go, check us into good plays, stay out of bad plays. And I feel like that’s how you stay on schedule [with] that second-and-6, third-and-short, that’s how you win football games.”
Eli Stowers began his college career as a quarterback at Texas A&M. He appeared in five games in two seasons as a backup before transferring to New Mexico State.
He played quarterback and tight end one season there before transferring to Vanderbilt, where he transformed himself into the nation’s best tight end.
Among his many awards in 2025, Stowers was a first-team All-American and won the Mackey Award as the top tight end.
“If you would have told me even three, four years ago that I was going be playing tight end, I would have thought you were crazy,” Stowers said. “I was a quarterback through and through. . . . But playing quarterback was pivotal in my transition to tight end, just making it easier because I understood the game. Like, as a quarterback, you have to understand what everybody’s doing on offense, what everybody’s doing on defense.”
Stowers led the team with 49 receptions for 638 yards and five touchdowns in 2025. His receiving skills are unquestioned, but his run blocking, which has come a long way, still needs work.
“That was the newest thing to me, newest technique, newest movement, coming from quarterback,” Stowers said. “That was something you never did as a quarterback. I think that’s something that I’ve gotten a lot better [at doing], but I want to continue to try to learn and watch film and hone in on my technique.”
While he acknowledges he still has room for improvement, Stowers calls himself a “good” blocker.
“I think that people don’t give me enough credit for the strides I’ve already taken in my blocking game,” Stowers said. “I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’m not saying there’s [not] a whole lot more I can continue to grow [in], but I think I’m a good blocker at this point.”
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza calls himself “unemployed.”
“I have no job,” Mendoza said Friday at the Scouting Combine. “This is my job interview right now, and like everyone says, this is the most important job interview of your life. So, right now, I’m just doing everything to hopefully get employed April 23.”
The Heisman Trophy winner is expected to go No. 1 overall to the Raiders, who sent a contingent to watch him at the national championship game. Going to the Raiders would mean going from a national championship team to the worst team in the NFL.
The Raiders went 3-14 in 2025 and have not made the playoffs since 2021.
“Well, I have not been selected yet, and whatever team drafts me, I’m extremely grateful,” Mendoza said. “Like I said, whether it’s the No. 1 pick or whether it’s the last pick in the draft, I’d be blessed and honored to be drafted by any team. I’m going to give them by all. The possibility — I mean, we see how the NFL turns around so much. The margins are so small. There are so many games decided by so few points, and the difference between a losing record and a winning record is a couple of drives, is a couple of key plays, so whatever team I’m on, I’m just going to take that advice, and take the coaching from the coaching staff, and however I can best serve my teammates on that team, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”
Mendoza has already had his formal meeting with the Raiders at the combine.
“I was lucky to have a formal interview with the Las Vegas Raiders. It was a fantastic interview,” Mendoza said. “Went over some of my previous plays, drew up some plays on the board. I thought it was a great meeting. I know they have the No. 1 pick, but anything can happen in the draft, but I’m just excited for the opportunity, and whatever team drafts me I’m going to give everything I’ve got to them.”
Mendoza said whether he goes No. 1 overall or not, he will be “blessed” to get a chance to play in the NFL and will have “nothing” to say to the teams that passed on him.
“There are so many great players in this class,” Mendoza said. “We saw the Ohio State guys run yesterday. There are plenty of Indiana guys who are great in the draft as well. I’m just honored to be a part of the group. There will be no hard feelings. . . . I’m just trying to be the best me possible. Whatever drafts me, I’m grateful, whether it’s the No. 1 pick or the 199th pick.”
The 199th pick refers, of course, to Tom Brady, who now is a minority owner of the Raiders.
If — or probably more like when — quarterback Fernando Mendoza is selected by the Raiders at No. 1 overall in this year’s NFL Draft, he’ll join a franchise that is partly owned by Tom Brady.
As General Manager John Spytek said earlier this week at the scouting combine, Brady would clearly be a great mentor to any young quarterback as the best to ever play the position.
So how would Mendoza feel about heading to Las Vegas and being mentored by Brady?
“Yeah, I mean, who hasn’t admired Tom Brady? More Super Bowl rings than anybody. So, that opportunity would be fantastic,” Mendoza said in his Friday morning press conference. “Tom Brady, I believe, is the best quarterback of all time by a wide margin. And to be able to have the opportunity to be mentored by him, it would mean so much. Especially to learn, and I’m all about learning, so Day 1, I’ve got to learn a lot. It’s going to be a long journey. And to potentially have a mentor like that would be pretty impressive and pretty meaningful.”
Brady and much of the Raiders’ brass were in South Florida to watch Mendoza and the Hoosiers play the Hurricanes in the national championship game last month. Mendoza said he wasn’t aware of that until after the game, though it’s not as if Mendoza could’ve had any contact with the team at that time. But generally, Mendoza said he was glad his teammates were able to get more playing time in front of NFL decision-makers because they’d all like to play in the league.
But at the combine, Mendoza was able to talk with Brady — albeit for a short time.
“When I walked in the formal interview with the Raiders, I was able to say a brief ‘hi’ on the phone with Brady,” Mendoza said. “So, that was very special for me. Looking forward to seeing him in person, hopefully, one day and learning from him.”
There is some news on one of the offensive tackles looking to be drafted in April.
Per Dane Brugler of TheAthletic.com, Oregon left tackle Isaiah World suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during the first half of the program’s CFP loss to Indiana.
World did not play in the second half of the game and then pulled out of the Senior Bowl.
World underwent surgery to repair the injury earlier in February.
While Brugler notes World will not be attending the scouting combine next week, he will be available for medical re-checks and top-30 visits. He was widely regarded as a potential Day 2 pick in this year’s draft.
World transferred to Oregon in 2025 after spending his first four collegiate seasons at Nevada. He was a second-team All-Big Ten honoree.
The postseason is over, which means the 2026 NFL draft order is complete. The Raiders pick first, and the Super Bowl champion Seahawks pick 32nd. Here’s the full draft order:
1. Raiders
2. Jets
3. Cardinals
4. Titans
5. Giants
6. Browns
7. Commanders
8. Saints
9. Chiefs
10. Bengals
11. Dolphins
12. Cowboys
13. Falcons (traded first-round pick to Rams)
14. Ravens
15. Buccaneers
16. Colts (traded first-round pick to Jets)
17. Lions
18. Vikings
19. Panthers
20. Packers (traded first-round pick to Cowboys)
21. Steelers
22. Chargers
23. Eagles
24. Jaguars (traded first-round pick to Browns)
25. Bears
26. Bills
27. 49ers
28. Texans
29. Rams
30. Broncos
31. Patriots
32. Seahawks
Who has the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?
The Las Vegas Raiders earned the first overall pick by having with the easiest schedule of the four teams that finished tied with the worst record in the NFL, 3-14.
What are the tiebreakers for NFL Draft picks?
Draft picks are awarded in order of lowest winning percentage, and the tiebreaker is opponents’ winning percentage, with the team that played the easiest schedule picking first. If two teams have the same record and same strength of schedule, division or conference tiebreakers are applied. If the divisional or conference tiebreakers are not applicable, or ties still exist between teams of different conferences, ties will be broken the following tie-breaking method:
- Head-to-head, if applicable
- Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games (minimum of four)
- Strength of victory in all games
- Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed in all games
- Best net points in all games
- Best net touchdowns in all games
- Coin toss
The 18 non-playoff teams get the first 18 picks. The six wild card round playoff losers get picks 19-24, the four divisional round losers get picks 25-28, the conference championship game losers get picks 29 and 30, the Super Bowl loser gets pick 31 and the Super Bowl winner gets pick 32.
When is the 2026 NFL Draft?
The 2026 NFL draft takes place April 23-25 in Pittsburgh. The first round will be on Thursday night, the second and third rounds will be on Friday night, and the fourth through seventh rounds will be on Saturday.
Who is the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the betting favorite to go first overall. Other contenders include Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, Miami defensive end Rueben Bain, Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Auburn defensive end Keldric Faulk
