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There are several ways to judge a draft class. Each season has its ebbs and flows, its risers and fallers, its strengths and weaknesses. The first 14 picks of the 2024 NFL Draft were on the offensive side of the ball. Two years prior, the first five selections were edge rushers and corners.
There's some fun calculus there, but the same logic doesn't hold up under center. Nobody cares how deep the quarterback class is, because Day 3 quarterbacks don't see the field.
Quarterback classes are judged on stars and starters, first-overall picks and Day 1 selections. After Mississippi Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss's recent injunction, the crop of passers in the 2026 NFL Draft grew even weaker.
Trinidad Chambliss is going back to school
Chambliss emerged as one of the draft's biggest risers after a strong season under Lane Kiffin's tutelage and a promising College Football Playoff performance.
However, 2025 was Chambliss's first year in Division I football. That was a yellow flag on his profile, perhaps even worse if one doesn't consider his Division II reps as translatable to Sundays. As a short quarterback (who likely would have been listed under 6'0" in Indianapolis), Chambliss already had lots to prove to evaluators.
Chambliss wasn't guaranteed to be a first-round pick or to find Year 1 playing time. Similarly, he easily could have found himself in a bad situation or drafted by a team destined to fire their coach in a year's time. There's a world in which Chambliss is a developmental project without the infrastructure to find success.
Subsequently, Chambliss was justified in his decision to return to Mississippi. For one, the NIL is lucrative -- he'll make millions next season. He'll get the chance to compete for a championship and Heisman Trophy on one of the SEC's better teams.
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If things go well, the NFL will be waiting anyway. That's a real risk, as things can go wrong, and Day 2 quarterback prospects aren't known commodities. Play well, though, and Chambliss could be among the first players taken in the 2027 NFL Draft, earning millions more on his rookie contract and all the second chances that come with that kind of capital.
Chambliss is making the best decision for himself. For the quarterback-needy teams in the 2026 NFL Draft, the news comes as a final blow.
Fernando Mendoza has long been the first pick in the NFL Draft. The New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, and Cleveland Browns, it has become clear that their answer under center won't be taken with a top-six pick.
Alabama's Ty Simpson is as polarizing as he is inexperienced. Garrett Nussmeier's 2025 season was derailed by injury. Nobody else is particularly close to top-50 capital.
It's impossible to be a good quarterback class when the No. 2 pick cannot reasonably take a passer. We can comfortably slot this class above 2022, the year of Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, and Malik Willis debates. There might not be a quarterback class in the last decade with as little talent.
That's not Chambliss's cross to bear. But for (non-Raiders) teams in need of a franchise quarterback, it is abundantly clear that the answer isn't coming on a Thursday night in April.
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