{"id":580869,"date":"2026-04-13T03:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T03:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T03:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T03:04:09","slug":"could-be-long-wait-to-find-out-qb3-of-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580869\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Be ‘Long Wait’ To Find Out QB3 Of Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The identities of the top two quarterback prospects of the 2026 NFL Draft have been clear for some time now. Indiana\u2019s Fernando Mendoza<\/a> is all but Sharpied into the No. 1 overall draft slot, and though it\u2019s unclear if he\u2019ll hear is name on Day 1, Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson<\/a> has distanced himself as QB2. According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, though, \u201cthere\u2019s no consensus opinion\u201d on the identity of QB3, and there could be a long wait<\/a> before we find out who will claim that honor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For awhile now, it\u2019s looked like a group of three passers has established itself as the next tier of draftable quarterbacks. This group contains LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier<\/a>, Penn State\u2019s Drew Allar<\/a>, and Miami\u2019s Carson Beck<\/a>. Nussmeier looked like a promising first-round candidate after throwing for 4,043 yards in his first season as a starter. Having sat three years, waiting for the starting job to open, Nussmeier was primed to ride the momentum of his 2024 campaign to another solid year. Unfortunately, he was plagued by an abdominal injury, and after losing two games, Nussmeier ended up getting benched in two more before sitting the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Allar has looked the part of prototypical quarterback ever since he committed to the Nittany Lions as a consensus five-star recruit. As a sophomore, first-year starter, he showed outstanding discipline with 25 touchdowns to only two interceptions, despite only completing 59.9 percent of his pass attempts. He improved his completion percentage over the next two years but lost discipline as he threw 11 interceptions in 22 games. He also never ranked higher than 65th in the NCAA in passing yards per game. Having never quite reached his potential, Allar\u2019s collegiate career ended with a season-ending injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like Nussmeier, Beck\u2019s time as a starter at Georgia came after sitting for three years. After watching his team win consecutive national championships, Beck\u2019s legacy in Athens was established as a passer who always just came up short. Beck owned a two-year record of 24-3, but one of those losses was to Alabama in the SEC Championship in 2023, and he was injured during the Bulldogs\u2019 College Football Playoff run in 2024. Beck transferred to play for the Hurricanes, and in one season, led the team to their first College Football Playoff appearance and a run that ended in a loss at the National Championship Game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Smith also mentions Clemson passer Cade Klubnik<\/a>. A consensus five-star recruit, like Allar, Klubnik peaked as a second-year starter in his junior year. Finishing the season with an average of 259.9 passing yards per game with 36 touchdowns to only six interceptions, Klubnik was listed right alongside Nussmeier as a potential first-round candidate before the 2025 season. Klubnik\u2019s legacy may be highlighted by the end of a Clemson dynasty, though. After an 11-year span in which the Tigers never lost more than three games in a season and won two of four championship game appearances, Clemson lost four games in each of Klubnik\u2019s first two seasons as a starter and six games in his final year. His scoring production also dropped drastically in his final year as he threw only 16 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Smith is also intrigued by Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green<\/a>. The intrigue around Green comes mostly from his abilities as a dual-threat passer. Over four years as a starter \u2014 two at Boise State before joining the Razorbacks \u2014 Green never threw more than 20 touchdowns in a season, while his completion percentage hovered around 60 and his interceptions increased with each year. Green showed electric rushing ability, though, with 1,024 yards and 19 touchdowns as a starter at Boise State and 1,379 yards and 16 touchdowns at Arkansas.<\/p>\n

Nussmeier and Klubnik may have killed their first-round potential with brutal results in 2025, but teams could still be really impressed by their ceilings. Meanwhile, Beck improved what looked like a lost career with a strong final season, and Allar and Green hold plenty of potential even if they didn\u2019t produce the best results in college. All it takes is for one team to fall in love with any of these prospects and pull the trigger first. It will be extremely interesting to look out for which teams attach themselves to each quarterback and how early they\u2019ll be willing to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The identities of the top two quarterback prospects of the 2026 NFL Draft have been clear for some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[68019,7588,25813,40548,399,44082,398,396,397,99,57677],"class_list":{"0":"post-580869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-cade-klubnik","10":"tag-carson-beck","11":"tag-drew-allar","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-garrett-nussmeier","14":"tag-ncaa","15":"tag-ncaa-football","16":"tag-ncaafootball","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-taylen-green"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}