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Stay. Let the Raiders flop on someone else this year. Hopefully a better league cellar dweller picks him next year.

He's mature on his own right and has family members and advisors who will help with this decision. I'm not qualified to make this decision, especially without knowing the financial difference between staying and leaving. What do you think, Alex? Should he stay or go? With Klubnik and Nussmeier falling short of projections, Allar injured, and Simpson not playing well vs. Georgia, this could be the year for Dante to go to the League. But I've never heard any pro say that the NFL is a better experience than college.

In today's mailbag, the Athletic's Stewart Mandel also mentioned that Whit could be interested in the Michigan job. Stewart also referred to Michigan AD Warde Manuel as a 'dead man walking.' I doubt that playing ball for Saint Bo will save Warde's job. What do I know, especially when considering the dough? 🤑

In the past 40 years only four QB's who were picked first overall won the Super Bowl (Aikman, Manning, Manning, Stafford). In that same time span, only nine QB who were picked in the first round won the Super Bowl and one of those guys (Dilfer) wasn't a franchise QB. There are very few QB's who have the ability to turn a franchise around and most first round QB's are expected to do exactly that. Dante is going to be a high draft pick due to his arm strength. Therefore it would serve him well to get as much experience as he can before he is expected to turn around a bad franchise. If he's lucky he'll get picked by a team looking to replace an aging starter and he gets a chance to learn like Aaron Rogers did.

osu leads with 5 possible first rounders. JMU has a 7th rounder, WR DeGenarro. Other possible matchups for OBD: TT = 1, edge Bailey; Indy = 1 Mendoza (QB); 'Bama 3 = Ty Simpson (QB), Bernard (WR) & Proctor (OL, TE, FB); Okla 0. 2026 NFL draft tiers for every College Football Playoff team - ESPN

Trent Kirsten looks to have all the tools to become a top drawer P2 head coach. Good strategic coaching, excellent recruiter, scouts his opposition well, and knows how to motivate after suffering a loss. Question remains as to whether Eugene is a destination or a stepping stone for him.

It seems they did quite good considering there was only one player left from 2024!!! Coaching changes will do that. Hopefully, this will turn out like Lombardi and softball. Oregon Volleyball 2025 Season Review | Addicted To Quack

ESPN names incoming TE Harrison most impactful recruit. TE Kendre Harrison named ESPN's most impactful 2026 recruit for Ducks

Coach Whittingham said he was stepping down as Utah’s head coach, not that he is retiring. He is reportedly open to coaching again in the future, according to sources close to him (unlikely Canzo). https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-utes/2025/12/12/why-utahs-kyle-whittingham-might/

Great ponder point Alex. And great comments by the Forum posters. The road to the Natty for OBD's goes thru some nasty aggresive defenses once JMU is dispatched. TT, IU and tOSU are a combined 37-2. If Georgia,beats tOSU then that's another tough out. How Dante and the Ducks handle that juggernaut will be a snapshot for Dante to see how he has grown from the IU game. He did not read IU's schemes and sets very well. However, Dante has improved since that game. I feel, as others do, if Oregon wins the Natty that Dante will be headed to the NFL. There is no comparison money wise between NIL and the NFL. A top 5 pick is in the $50 million area. The 5th year option for a QB would be $30 million plus alone. In 2030, for a,QB starter it could very well top $50 per season in a 2nd contract. However, it is a double edged sword. The sooner the journey starts the sooner you get to that 2nd contract But teams like the Raiders, Jets, Browns etc are an absolute joke. Tbey are POS franchises that offer very little upside for a QB. Unfortuneatley, if Dante returns and goes in the 2027 NFL draft, the casyt of POS teams will be the same. Dante, get a Natty and get gone. When does Saturday get here. Good gosh, get the playoffs started by the 2nd Saturday in December...

In his final college football playoff prediction, Josh Pate picked Ohio State over Oregon in the national championship game. He said that Oregon is peaking and getting healthy at the right time. Indiana’s DL injury will hurt their chances of beating Oregon a second time but Ohio State is the best overall team. For the record, I would pick Oregon and Georgia to play in the national championship game and believe that that game would be a coin flip on who would win.

And if he were to talk with Bo & Dillion, they'd probably talk about how the extra college years really helped them prepare fort the NFL....

He had the maturity and long-term outlook to realize he needed to sit for a year and learn. My guess is that same approach will be applied here. Moore will recognize that more experience is what is best for him.

I see a lot of upside in returning to college. While the NFL awaits for your arrival for another year, you build your skills, and put off a potential physical, and mental beatdown of playing for a team in turmoil. DM gets paid which ever route he takes. Another year in college puts eyes on his game, and with the receivers that will be available to him at Oregon, a Heismann run is certainly on the table. Which certainly enhances endorsement potential. If the goal is to make money, improve skills, be successful, and be a leader of something bigger than oneself, then returning to college seems to check a lot of the boxes.

Thanks for posting another excellent ponder point Alex! I too, think DM is in it for the long haul. He has shown his maturity and invested in his future by sitting behind DG last year, and has already indicated he sees the value of experience going in to the league. I would be surprised if he makes the jump this year and forgoes the opportunity to continue to learn from DL and start to meet his potential.

Great read. My thought is that with NIL, the rush to "get the bag" is not as motivating as it was less than 10 years ago, thus allowing top players to continue to develop in NFL-Lite before moving on to the NFL-Heavy. This in addition to the "free for all" free agency via the transfer portal allows more opportunities to play in/with complete teams thus maximizing your abilities, being surrounded by equal or greater talent. The expectations to Win Now are currently far less demanding in NFL-lite than with the NFL-HEAVY, where you are playing with "grown*ssed", rather large and beefy, MEN that have developed their "ManMeat" against the elite players in all of football. Big difference between a sack from a linebacker two years outa high school and one by a ten year veteran with NFL playing experience. There just is. That all being said, Dante seems to have a solid support structure and people close to him that are more interested in his development, here at Oregon, rather than making a premature push to the NFL-Heavy. At least it appears that way. Dante himself has shown maturity and logic applied to his college career to date, and I fully expect him to make the appropriate and best decision for his professional football career. Dante's is going to have a long and fulfilling career ahead of him. I am hoping that he understands that an extra year under the Oregon banner can and will make him that much more valuable and efficient when he does move up to the NFL-Heavy. As a rabid Duck Dan, I am hoping that the best choice made is to return one more year to Defend(!) our first Natty and secure a second Oregon Football Heisman Winner in the past ten years. Either way we be good. Oregon Football is no longer a team that needs to rebuild after top talent leaves...we simply reload. Probably the most important aspect of the current Dan Lanning era. I am so here for it all! OBD 🪨'S. GO DUCKS!

You’ve also seen a recent resurgence of NFL QBs who were not successful at their first stop and have found new life on new teams (better organizations). For “older” fans, Steve Young (Tampa Bay to San Francisco) comes to my mind.

I was at Rutgers for the Oregon game this year. The only reason the Rutgers fans had for staying through halftime was their drone show. It was actually really good. I heard some of them bragging that they had got one of the top tech guys from the portal. 🙄😁

Our Oregon Football program has had some MAJOR wins as of late. Evan Stewart, Gary Bryant Jr., and Dakorien “Metro” Moore were all spotted at practice this week in limited action. That bodes extremely well for the Ducks’ postseason hopes and gives the offense a much better chance to stretch the field against some of the best defenses in the country. ... Read More Source Read the full article here...

If Dante does enter the draft, I've got a "stranger things have happened" name. Nico Iamaleava. New staff at UCLA, some talk on UCLA sites, him returning there isn't currently guaranteed. The Duck staff obviously has familiarity with him due to him being a California kid and recruiting him. If he is interested and ready to attempt a Bo Nix type redemption arc, well, no better place. If a top portal name doesn't make sense for Oregon a second move might be the round of highly rated QB recruits who appear nearly locked into at least another year of sitting (who often portal). For example, it might be tough for Alabama to hold onto both Keelon Russell and Austin Mack (another California kid with a listed Oregon offer); or, Ohio State with Lincoln Kienholz and Tavien St. Clair. That sort of thing (imagine Ohio State fans if Kienholz or St. Clair joined Oregon). 🙂

My gut tells me Stewart won't be ready. At minimum Dak or Gary coming back would be a step up and both would be huge.

Hopefully Eugene's seasonal fog doesn't make an appearance, like one of our memorable "fog bowl" games. Here's 2005.

Well I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the second pick and headed to Las Vegas. On the other hand 50 million big ones with half of that up front, properly invested, will be worth a whole lot more down the road than whatever NIL Oregon can come up with. As I financial consultant (which honesty compels me to admit that I am not) I'd clearly have to advise Dante to take the money and run. That is a no-lose proposition even if Dante never starts a game in the NFL.

5 JMU players to watch Know the Foe: Five James Madison Dukes players to know

JMU from the defensive side Oregon Defense Breaks Down the James Madison Challenge Ahead of Playoff Opener