Jordan Rodgers calls Arch Manning No. 1 draft pick chatter 'insane'

There has always been an abnormal amount of excitement surrounding quarterback Arch Manning. Given his family’s legacy at the position, expectations were always going to be high. Then, he became the top recruit in the country and joined the Texas Longhorns.

Now going into his junior season, Manning is preparing for his first full season as the starting quarterback at Texas. With that has come another increase in the excitement surrounding him, with some even projecting him as a potential first overall pick next season.

Former Vanderbilt quarterback and current analyst for ESPN, Jordan Rodgers, has heard the talk regarding Arch Manning. However, he’s not quite on board with the draft hype. Instead, he pushed back and called it insane during an appearance on College Football Live.

“But let’s address the elephant in the room,” Rodgers said. “I have Arch Manning at fifth in the SEC when it comes to quarterbacks, when a lot of the media and a lot of the landscape of college football is talking about him being a top 10 or a No. 1 overall draft pick next year. I think that is insane.”

Coming out of high school, he was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023 and was the top-ranked recruit overall in that recruiting cycle. However, his playing time has been limited since then. Last season, he would complete 67.8 percent of his passes for 939 yards and nine touchdowns to two interceptions. He also rushed for 108 yards and four touchdowns.

“And I love Arch,” Rodgers said. “The reason I love him is because I think he’s got a really high floor. You know what you got with him, he’s mechanically sound, he’s accurate, he’s cerebral. When there’s a clean pocket and he’s got to work through reads, there’s not many that are better at getting the ball where it’s supposed to go.”

Manning has received effusive praise from experts across the sport. In particular, Paul Finebaum has showered him with praise, arguing, “Arch Manning is the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006.” Despite that, Rodgers has plenty of questions that Manning is going to need to answer.

“The question I have is the limitations of his talent and where that puts his ceiling,” Rodgers said. “Because I think Quinn Ewers, from an arm talent perspective, much more talented. Quinn could throw in a phone booth; off platform, sidearm. Arch, I think, when he’s in rhythm and on platform, I think he’s really good. I worry about when there’s noise going on around him. He struggled against Georgia when there was guys in his face. I get it, first year, you’re going to struggle against Georgia. I’m not putting it all on that. I just think the good, were saw were against really bad defenses last year. And there’s still a lot of question marks about how good he can be. The good thing? His floor is really high. He’s gonna be solid no matter what. But I have him at five.”

Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning entering 2026 NFL Draft

The chatter around Manning and the NFL Draft is real. With a good year, he could be a high pick. That’s not head coach Steve Sarkisian‘s focus just yet, but one he hopes the choice hard to make at the end of the year.

“I just want the guy to have a really good season this year, and we’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. I hope he has a really hard decision to make, because that means he played really good,” Sarkisian said.

“He’s such an easy-going, mellow-mannered guy that he doesn’t have to try too hard. I think him being himself at his core is what’s going to be good enough for people to get a sense and a feel for who he is, and ultimately with his teammates. When you don’t have to act and don’t have to put on a front of something different than you are, it’s a lot easier. He’s fortunate. Because he’s such a good guy, he can be just like that.”

For his part, Arch Manning was asked about the NFL Draft at SEC Media Days. He deflected, though, joking that he was just trying to get through the interview.