As the 2026 NFL draft approaches on Thursday, April 23, it’s time to look at the quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks always show up early. Even when you tell yourself you’re just here to watch the line play, maybe check out a corner or two, they find you. Spiral in the air, a little extra juice, and suddenly you’re leaning forward like it matters in April.

This class has that pull. Not perfect, not spotless, but alive. A little messy in the way good quarterback groups usually are.

5 Best Quarterbacks in the 2026 NFL Draft

Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) is the one everyone keeps circling back to, and it’s not hard to see why. The numbers from 2025 read like someone got carried away on a video game—3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, just six picks—but it’s the feel that sticks. He plays like he knows something you don’t. Calm without being sleepy. Aggressive without forcing it. There’s a quiet arrogance to the way he works the middle of the field, like he’s already decided where the ball’s going and the defense is just catching up.

You watch him long enough and you start to trust him, which is a dangerous thing to do with a college quarterback in April. But there it is.

Ty Simpson (Alabama) is trickier. He’s the one scouts argue about over bad coffee and worse lighting. Limited starts, flashes that make you sit up, then stretches where you remember he hasn’t done this a ton. The arm is real. The athleticism is there. The rest of it—timing, anticipation, the boring but essential stuff—comes and goes.

Still, there’s something about him that lingers. Maybe it’s the way the ball jumps out of his hand, maybe it’s the pedigree, maybe it’s just that Alabama quarterbacks always feel like they’re one tweak away from becoming a problem for the rest of the league. He’s not finished. That’s the point and the risk.

Garrett Nussmeier (LSU) feels like he was built in a different decade, and I mean that as a compliment. He’s comfortable in structure. Reads it out, hits his back foot, lets it go. There’s rhythm to his game, and when it’s working, it’s easy to imagine Sundays. The word “pro-style” gets tossed around a lot, usually as filler. Here, it actually fits.

He’ll take chances. Sometimes ones that make you wince a little. But you don’t want to coach that edge out of him completely. There’s a fine line between reckless and necessary, and Nussmeier lives right on it, which makes him fun—and a little exhausting—to watch.

Drew Allar (Penn State) looks the part the second he walks on the field. Big frame, easy velocity, the kind of arm that makes routes look shorter than they are. When he’s in rhythm, everything feels on time and on target. When he’s not, it can get static in a hurry.

The league will talk itself into him. They always do with quarterbacks who look like this. But it’s not just projection. There are real, high-end flashes where you see the full picture—processing, placement, command—and it’s enough to keep you hanging around for the next snap.

And then there’s Carson Beck (Miami), who doesn’t try to win you over so much as quietly stack completions until you realize he already has. Experienced, accurate, generally unbothered. He’s not chasing highlight throws when the easy one is sitting right there, which sounds simple until you watch how many quarterbacks refuse to do it.

There’s a steadiness to him that coaches are going to love. Maybe he doesn’t have the same ceiling buzz as some of the others, but he plays like someone who understands the job—get it out, keep it clean, come back to the sideline like you’ve been here before.

These are the names to watch in the draft. Let the games begin.