Courtesy of Jon Joseph…

Dante Moore to the New York Jets at #1?

Is there a worse franchise in the NFL where top QB draft pick after top QB draft pick goes on to fail? Not even Aaron Rodgers could succeed there.

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/2026-nfl-mock-draft-updated-1st-round-ty-simpson-dante-moore-fernando-mendoza-lanorris-sellers

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by OregonDucks

If he is projected to be picked #1 in the draft, I would find it hard to believe he would pass it up. It would be nice to go to a better team, but so many things could happen in a second year with the Ducks. A dreadful season, hardly likely. A mediocre season, possibly still unlikely, a career ending injury, again still highly unlikely.

Maybe the most likely scenario, a season ending injury. This could cause a drop to second or third round pick, a big drop in contract value, and still no guarantee of going to a good team. My guess anything above a #5 pick in the first round, will send him to the NFL. I don't think the Ducks could match it.

I think Dante should wait a year if there is a chance he goes to the Jets, Bears, Browns, or Raiders. Those seem to be teams where QB's go to die. This gives him a better opportunity to go to teams with aging starters who have had some measure of success. The best scenario would be if the Cowboys or Rams have bad seasons and get a chance at a high draft pick. Dallas has the Packers' first round picks for the next two seasons, so they have the bargaining chips to move to the #1 pick if they think he's their future. They should think about drafting Prescott's replacement and let them learn under him for a season or two.

Dante Moore opens up on emotions after Penn State win and Heisman Trophy buzz

Much like Conerly Jr. last year, Moore is young enough to return for another season and still only be 22 when drafted, so with NIL, arguably there doesn't need to be quite as big a rush to the NFL. Two old Pac-12 guys usually come up as "cautionary tales" though. 🤷‍♂️

RB Bryce Love after rushing for 2,100 yards and finishing second in the Heisman, returned to Stanford and had a pair of ACL injuries and fell to the forth round and never had an NFL carry.

USC's Matt Barkley, who was thought to be a first round lock in 2011, returned to USC as a possible Heisman favorite and the team dropped to 7-5 and he got a shoulder injury and missed the ND game, Sun Bowl, and NFL combine. Fell to the forth round. Moved around as a backup QB through several NFL cities, playing in 20 games with 7 starts between 2013-2023.

4 minutes ago, AnotherOD said:

Two old Pac-12 guys usually come up as "cautionary tales" though. 🤷‍♂️

RB Bryce Love after rushing for 2,100 yards and finishing second in the Heisman, returned to Stanford and had a pair of ACL injuries and fell to the forth round and never had an NFL carry.

USC's Matt Barkley, who was thought to be a first round lock in 2011, returned to USC as a possible Heisman favorite and the team dropped to 7-5 and he got a shoulder injury and missed the ND game, Sun Bowl, and NFL combine. Fell to the forth round. Moved around as a backup QB through several NFL cities, playing in 20 games with 7 starts between 2013-2023.

Maybe not #1 overall, but there are plenty of examples the other way too (Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Justin Herbert).

There's a few cautionary tales out there but by and large QBs who stay for their senior year end up with a better understanding of the game. Just look at Herbert, Nix, and Gabriel none of which I think would be doing as well in the NFL if they hadn't come back for their senior year.

A former NFL announcer who started his career in the '70s and frequence my restaurant once regaled me with a story about Dak Prescott as a junior asking him for advice. He told Dak to stay in school and refine his game as he saw QBs get destroyed in the NFL when they didn't have enough starting experience. We we're talking about how NIL does have some positives.

Lanning protected Nix his senior year and didn't ask Gabriel to do a whole lot of running either. He knows it's a bad look when you sacrifice your QB for a few yards. Throw in a few million in NIL maybe a commercial or two and you're making some serious money for a college senior. If you're going 1# then you have to go for it.

3 hours ago, OregonDucks said:

Courtesy of Jon Joseph…

Dante Moore to the New York Jets at #1?

Is there a worse franchise in the NFL where top QB draft pick after top QB draft pick goes on to fail? Not even Aaron Rodgers could succeed there.

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/2026-nfl-mock-draft-updated-1st-round-ty-simpson-dante-moore-fernando-mendoza-lanorris-sellers

You have to be a canewaver to recall Joe Namath in 1969, guaranteeing a Jets win over the Baltimore Colts in what was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game (today referred to as Super Bowl III, if you please), and cashing in on his prediction, 16-7.

Coming out of Bama where he played for Bear Bryant, Joe signed a 'huge' three-year deal with the Jets for $427,000.00, total. $142,333.33 a season. 🤑

The win by Broadway Joe and the Jets helped lead to the merger of the two leagues.

Also of note in the above prospective first round draft is Saturday's matchup of No.1 Dante Moore battling No. 3 Fernando Mendoza. These battles were supposed to happen in the SEC this season, not in the Big Ten.

Of course, Dante returning and winning back-to-back Nattys (👍👌😎 ?) means going to another crummy team. But if it's Miami, at least he won't have to pay state income tax on his home game appearances. 😁

Incinerate Indiana! Put Out Them Cigs!

“The number one overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Cam Ward, signed a contract worth $48.7 million over four years, with the entire amount being fully guaranteed”

That is generational wealth that NIL cannot compete with. If Moore is projected in the Top 10, I can’t see a situation where it would make sense for him to stay another year.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by GeotechDuck

Dante Moore is a wise dude like Justin Herbert. The extra millions don't mean as much as just enjoying a year of life you can't duplicate later, and being better prepared for the next level.

Dante has already done that once. He sees the success Herbert Nix and Gabriel are having and the common theme that they all used up all of their eligibility before moving on to the NFL.

I think the real deciding factor for Dante is going to be if if Will Stein stays or takes a HC job somewhere else. I don't believe projections of how high he will go in the draft carry much weight with him.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Solar