An annual tradition involves quarterback prospects making climbs based on pre-draft workouts and meetings. With a big gap emerging between Fernando Mendoza and the field this year, room for growth exists to bridge it. A familiar program has produced a candidate generating buzz to potentially be this year’s second quarterback chosen.
North Dakota State’s Cole Payton is generating early praise, with Sportsboom.com’s Jason La Canfora indicating some in the scouting community view him as this draft’s second-best QB prospect. Early-second-round grades have followed within this contingent.
The Bison, whose status as the top Division I-FCS program has triggered an upcoming move to the Mountain West Conference, have seen two of their quarterback prospects become top-three picks over the past 10 years. Carson Wentz completed a radical pre-draft rise in 2016, going second overall. Trey Lance went third overall five years later. Both the Eagles and 49ers’ moves required monster trade packages to move up. In between, Easton Stick was drafted in the 2019 fifth round.
While Wentz enjoyed an MVP-worthy 2017 and led the Eagles to the playoffs in 2019, neither he nor Lance ultimately justified their draft slots. That may play into teams’ evaluations of Payton, who is only a one-season starter at the FCS level. That season brought a strong dual-threat profile, with the 6-foot-3 prospect passing for 2,719 yards (with a 16-4 TD-INT ratio) and rushing for 923 — to go with 13 rushing scores. Payton averaged 12.1 yards per attempt and finished third in voting for the Walter Payton Award, given to the FCS level’s best player. This reminds of Lance’s 2019 season. Lance, however, was long held as a first-round prospect before San Francisco’s monster trade-up. Payton has yet to make inroads to that level and probably will not.
With Dante Moore and Arch Manning returning to school and other 2026 prospects not delivering on hype last season, a void exists. Alabama’s Ty Simpson is generally regarded as this draft’s second-best QB, so it will be interesting to see if Payton — who impressed at the Senior Bowl — can turn more heads as the pre-draft process progresses. With a host of teams needing help at the position and Mendoza almost certainly ticketed for Las Vegas at No. 1 overall, teams talking themselves into other options on Day 2 — or late in the first round — will be a draft storyline to follow.
Hjmmmm cardinals maybe?…🤔
I would be very cautious regarding him. He has been viewed as a lower talent player as evidence of where he went to school. Don’t get me wrong I get it if you have talent you have talent. I think this might just be a bigger statement regarding how weak the class really is.
I’ve seen the argument made that a slightly above-average QB who plays in a non-FBS league can more easily pad his stats, as it’s likely he’s not facing the skill level he’d see from those vying for a national championship. Makes sense.
Not another PEYTON !!
Every 15 minutes there is ANOTHER Peyton Manning commercial on with him plugging something or other !!
I see more of him now than when he was playing.
He’s probably moking moe money now too.
I’m not familiar with him to comment on him specifically but the QB position is so vital whether anyone views another QB as a first round talent Mendoza certainly won’t be the only one taken in round one. I’ll make my bold prediction that not only will there be multiple round one QBs someone will trade up slots to make sure they get their highest ranked QB option. Every QB you have is another potential long term starter. We always point to Brady and he is the goat so rightfully so. But people forget how good Kurt Warner was and his path to the NFL and HOF. Two great examples of if you are the best player regardless of investment in another qb via draft capital, trade, or financial should always play. Brady and Warner both came in for an injured starter and you just knew they weren’t giving the job back. Warner was in the arena league and bagging freaking groceries to feed his family. You can’t say it was the system for either of these guys. Warner may not have won more than one superbowl but he was very good for the Giants and I think he even got the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. Two fighters right there
Being compared to Lance probably isn’t going to help in the long run. I still don’t think Lance should’ve ever been drafted, let alone how much was traded away for the draft position to get him.
Let’s not forget the Raiders drafted Cam Miller from that esteemed QB factory.