Oregon quarterback Dante Moore is returning to Eugene for 2026. That could open the door for the New York Jets to draft Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson.
Before the College Football Playoff, Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was projected to be the third best signal-caller in the 2026 NFL Draft behind Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore but ahead of Miami's Carson Beck.
Much has changed since December.
Beck and Mendoza are set to play in the national title on Monday night.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss boosted his draft stock by leading the Rebels to a 39-34 upset of No. 3 Georgia in the CFP quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl. He nearly led Ole Miss past Miami in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl.
Mendoza looks like a lock to be the Las Vegas Raiders quarterback with the No. 1 pick in April. The New York Jets, a quarterback-needy team, were thought to be in contention to take Moore with the No. 2 pick.
However, Moore announced on ESPN's "SportsCenter" on Wednesday that he is returning to Oregon in 2026.
"With that being said, of course, I'll be coming back to Oregon for one more year and being able to play for the Oregon Ducks," Moore said. "And, of course, reach our goal and be national champions."
Moore chose to return because he felt like he needed an extra season at the college level to prepare for the league. Simpson had to make the same calculation after Alabama was throttled 38-3 in the Rose Bowl by Indiana on Jan. 1.
However, Simpson decided to jump to the draft for 2026 after finishing the season with 3,567 yards passing, 28 touchdowns, and five interceptions.
Simpson did well at leading Alabama down the field without the help of an efficient running game.
Simpson isn't a lock to become the Jets' pick at No. 2, but he'll have opportunities to impress their scouts, front office, and head coach Aaron Glenn during the Scouting Combine and Alabama's Pro Day.
As North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick said on the "Let's Go!" podcast this week, there is a lengthy process NFL teams will go through before drafting a quarterback in April. There's a possibility Mendoza won't go No. 1.
"I'm not really sure, Jim (Gray)," Belichick said of Mendoza going No. 1. "I think there's obviously a lot of work to do on the draft between now and the end of April. So, you know, all teams will do their due diligence. There's so many factors that go into draft choices.
"And a lot of it's what's happened in the past, but a lot of it's the projection of how it's going to go in the future and how certain players fit into the system that each team has and how they think they'll develop and so forth and so on. So it's all the boards aren't the same."
At this point, the Jets would seem to be the more likely team to draft Simpson than the Raiders. But there's no doubt Las Vegas will do its due diligence on the Alabama quarterback.