NFL Open Thread: A generation of generational prospects edition
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One of my pet peeves — part of my larger annoyance with people consumingly obsessed with tanking for marginal improvements in draft position — is draftniks who start talking about the “generational” prospects that teams might want to stretegize about being in a position to draft that are far from even being established as the top pospect of what by definition is highly unlikely to be a generational draft class. But “TANK FOR ARCH MANNING!” has been a particularly hilarious comedown before Halloween:
The allegedly-stacked 2026 rookie quarterback class didn’t survive September. Arch Manning, Garrett Nussmeier and Drew Aller are out, for various reasons. Guys like Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore are suddenly in.
Draftniks are straight-facedly shuffling prospects who were on absolutely nobody’s radar six weeks ago (Moore threw for 49 yards in 2024, for heaven’s sake) to the top of their mock draft boards as if they have always been there. Folks, if the names of the “franchise quarterbacks” in a draft class change completely before you rake leaves for the first time, it means there are no franchise quarterbacks in the draft class.
The very thought of the Jets drafting a one-year wonder INDIANA HOOSIERS quarterback high in the first round, slapping his face on the back of the New York Post and expecting him to save the franchise makes my brain want to leap from my mouth and scurry into oncoming traffic. (Yes, I know the Hoosiers were 11-2 last year. Now, let’s discuss the previous 124 years.)
Fields, for all his faults, may have been the right idea. The Jets should try their hand at the reclamation game for another year. Derek Carr? Mac Jones? Tua Tagovailoa? Bryce Young? Spencer Rattler? Another year of Fields, but with a mid-round or second-chance challenger? They all sound like bad ideas, but trust me: the guy you just read about on DraftGoon.com whose games are broadcast on FS4 is an even worse idea.
At this point, any discussion about the possibility of taking the One Indispensable Prospect in the coming draft needs to start with the facts that 1)the last QB to actually be plausibly described as a “generational” prospect, Trevor Lawrence, is firmly established as “mid,” and 2)the top tier of QBs in the league currently were drafted #7, #10, and #32 (and the #7 pick is an historically unprecedented development story.) Good organizations know what they can’t be sure of.