Arch Manning Syndication: Austin American-Statesman

Texas Longhorns young star quarterback Arch Manning is facing a pretty bad situation regarding his future in the NFL that might cause him to reconsider declaring for the draft as soon as he is eligible.

Though Arch Manning arrived at Texas as the top quarterback in the 2023 high school recruiting class, he has spent the first two years of his career sitting behind starter Quinn Ewers.

Manning will likely get his first chance to serve as the team’s full-time starting quarterback next season, and he will then be eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft – but it sounds like there’s a chance he might reconsider whether or not to enter the draft.


As NFL Draft expert Matt Miller reported, NFL prospects are now being told to stay in college until they have started for multiple years at the college level.

“Scouts and agents are telling college QBs to not leave school until they’ve started 2+ years. The NFL doesn’t truly develop QBs anymore outside of rare exceptions,” Miller said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.

Obviously, this is rather horrible news for Manning as next season would be just his first season as a full-time starting quarterback.

If Manning were to follow this advice, he would have to wait at least another season before entering the NFL, even though he is already considered by many as one of the top prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Needless to say, this is not a great situation for Manning, and that sparked a lot of reactions on social media.

“Arch Manning shouldn’t take an NFL snap until 2027,” one fan wrote on X.

“Get ready to see smaller QB classes. With this and the NIL, the likelihood of top guys declaring is going to drop. Which in turn is going to create a QB arms race,” another fan added.

“QBs never started 1 year and then went pro before recently. And the few times it happened it didn’t go well,” another fan added.

“It’s not the NFL team’s job to develop players. It’s to win,” another fan wrote.

“I agree. It’s why the Mannings have said Arch is staying in school through his senior year,” another fan added.

We’ll have to see whether or not Manning does indeed decide to stay in school past next season.

[Matt Miller]