Dan Orlovsky says Arch Manning would go over Fernando Mendoza IN 2026 NFL Draft: “Not even close”

With the 2026 NFL Draft just two months away, the first overall pick is more or less set, with Fernando Mendoza widely expected to go first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Now granted, could some team submit a godfather offer and earn the right to select the former Indiana Hoosiers national champion? Sure thing, the New York Jets have been urged to do just that, even if there’s no guarantee the Raiders would say yes, but Las Vegas is a gambling city, and the safe bet is that Mendoza will come off the board at pick No. 1 and will don the black and silver on that stage in Pittsburgh.

And yet, in the opinion of Dan Orlovsky in an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, there’s one quarterback who would go above Mendoza in this year’s class if he were in the draft, Texas’s Arch Manning, and the decision wouldn’t even be close.

“Not even close. Not even close. Not even close. He’d be the runaway number one pick. Arch Manning is kind of like the throwback 1970 quarterback with modern-day training and nutrition. I’m a huge fan of this guy. He’s physically remarkably gifted. He’s intelligent when it comes to the football understanding of speed and space, all that,” Orlovsky noted.

“I think he’s wired the right way. When you watch him on a sideline, he’s ultra-competitive. I think he’s weathered a lot. He’s going into the NFL, or when he does, he’s going to have weathered so many different storms. We know that’s a huge deal. So many different finger pointings and adversity and hype and falling short and getting punched and getting backed up. You got to have that skill. You have to have that trait to be elite outside of the physical things. He would be number one runaway.”

But Orlovsky wasn’t done. No, there was one more factor that he felt made Manning a slam dunk to come off the board first overall: the teams picking in the top-2.

“Add in the context of this, the one, two picks are Las Vegas and New York,” Orlovsky noted. “These are huge markets, obviously massive organizations when it comes to at least visibility. So yeah, number one, runaway.”

After an ugly start to the 2025 CFB season that led more than a few talent evaluations to urge Cooper’s son to stay in school for the 2026 season, Manning got better and better down the stretch, showcasing the tools needed to become a legit player at the NFL level. Would he have gone No. 1 in 2026? It’s hard to say, but he still has a chance to accomplish that goal all the same; it will just come in 2027 – or 2028 – instead of 2026.

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