During the pre-draft process, the Los Angeles Rams general manager, Les Snead, was seen chatting up Texas quarterback Arch Manning. With Matthew Stafford now officially in his late 30s, who will replace him under center in SoFi has become one of the most intriguing stories in football going forward.
The Rams didn’t address quarterback in the 2025 draft, but they did make a savvy move, flipping their 26th pick and more for the Atlanta Falcons’ 2026 pick, potentially setting themselves up to trade up for one of the hot prospects in the 2026 draft.
Shortly after the draft, The Athletic’s insider Diana Russini reported, “I had a bunch of people in football texting me after the Rams did that [trade for the Atlanta Falcons’ 2026 first rounder]. They’re like Arch, Arch, that’s what Les is after.
Manning has quickly emerged as the front-runner for the top pick in that draft, despite throwing for fewer than 100 pass attempts in his college career. But there are plenty of reasons to believe Manning will be a top quarterback.
The quarterback boasts an impressive pedigree, with a grandfather drafted second overall and two uncles selected even higher. He is physically imposing, standing at 6′ 4″ and weighing 225 pounds. In his redshirt freshman season, he appeared in two games, throwing five passes and recording three carries for a total of 37 yards. Last year, he demonstrated his potential more fully. He started two games and played in ten, completing 61 of 90 passes for 939 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. He also showed his athleticism, rushing for 108 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries, including a notable 67-yard touchdown run against UTSA.
Los Angeles Rams: Arch Manning May Avoid 2026 Draft
But according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the prevailing sentiment is that Manning needs more time to develop, quoting multiple sources;
“I get that everyone’s excited,” one AFC college scouting director told me. “That run happened and people started talking—they’re almost surprised with that last name that he has that speed, and the ability to generate big plays with his legs, and he gets transformed into this elite prospect. The reality is we haven’t really seen him run the offense with any consistency yet. And that’s not his fault, he just hasn’t played.
“What are we looking at? You’d like to watch a quarterback in double-digit games to really evaluate them. … At other positions, you might get a feel after watching four games and have a good idea of who a guy is. The quarterback position is much different, it requires a much larger bank of film. You want to see him against a variety of different looks. In college, the talent is not as concentrated, so you want to see him against an Alabama or a Georgia.”
“You just don’t know until they’re really playing,” said another AFC college scouting director. “Right now, the body of work is too small. We’ve seen big guys with talent, the tools, the arm, that don’t know how to process, and don’t have the accuracy to all levels of the field consistently enough. What we have on [Manning] isn’t nearly enough. You could guess, but that’s really all you’ll be doing—guessing.”
Based on this, Breer thinks it is unlikely that Manning will declare for the 2026 NFL Draft and could end up staying in school through 2027.
Recent QB successes and failures point to opting for a more seasoned signal caller. Both Trey Lance and Anthony Richardson played a limited amount of collegiate football before getting drafted and both have struggled. Contrast that to Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix, who both had phenomenal rookie seasons. Both played more than 55 games over five seasons in college.
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