{"id":414398,"date":"2026-01-15T10:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414398\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T10:13:10","slug":"oregon-qb-dante-moore-will-not-enter-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414398\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon QB Dante Moore Will Not Enter 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quarterback Dante Moore<\/a> will not enter the 2026 NFL Draft. Moore announced on Wednesday that he will return to Oregon for his junior season.<\/p>\n

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This is a major blow to teams aiming to use a high pick on a quarterback in this year\u2019s draft. Before Moore decided to stay in school, he and Indiana\u2019s Heisman Trophy-winning signal-caller, Fernando Mendoza<\/a>, were considered locks to go near the top of the draft. With Moore out of the picture, Mendoza is undoubtedly the No. 1 option heading into the proceedings. It seems likely the Raiders will take him first overall.<\/p>\n

The Jets (second), Cardinals (third) and Browns (sixth) are other clubs that could conceivably choose a QB in the top 10<\/a>, but the likelihood of that has decreased with Moore remaining at Oregon. Moore\u2019s NIL valuation checks in at approximately $2.3MM, per On3<\/a>. That surely made it easier for Moore to delay his NFL career, though he may be leaving a substantial amount of money on the table for the time being. Regardless, the 20-year-old could benefit from further seasoning at the college level.<\/p>\n

Before jumping to the pros in 2027, Moore will aim to build on a breakout campaign in which he completed 71.8% of passes and threw for 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Moore guided Oregon to a 13-2 record, but Mendoza\u2019s Hoosiers ended the Ducks\u2019 season with a 56-22 blowout in the College Football Playoff semifinal.<\/p>\n

Moore, whom ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper<\/a> ranked as the second-best prospect in this year\u2019s class, may end up as part of a deeper group of draft-eligible QBs next year. Texas\u2019 Arch Manning<\/a> and South Carolina\u2019s LaNorris Sellers<\/a> represent other potential high picks in 2027. Meanwhile, it\u2019s unknown if any QBs other than Mendoza will come off the board in the first round this year. Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson<\/a> and Mississippi\u2019s Trinidad Chambliss<\/a>, who now round out Kiper\u2019s top three prospects at the position, are among names to watch. Unfortunately for teams in dire need of a franchise QB, neither looks like a slam-dunk first-rounder right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quarterback Dante Moore will not enter the 2026 NFL Draft. Moore announced on Wednesday that he will return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[17076,64,63,110478,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-414398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-dante-moore","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}