April 22, 2026, 5:50 p.m. ET
There is just one more day until the NFL Draft and things couldn’t be more chaotic. There are no consensus picks after the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 1, who are expected to take former Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
This means that teams’ draft boards will likely be changing up until the moment they are on the clock, so the prospects should be prepared to be surprised with wherever they land. One player in particular whose stock is all over the place is former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar. He was once projected as a lock to be a first-round pick, but now he faces some uncertainty about his positioning in the draft after a rough 2025 season.
Despite his poor play and injury-riddled year, multiple teams have expressed some interest in him, with Allar having met with five teams during the pre-draft process. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported recently that the Nittany Lions quarterback has had visits with the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, and Miami Dolphins.
Clearly there is some belief in the raw talent that Allar possesses, but ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. doesn’t seem to fully agree with that assessment. He released his final NFL Draft Big Board for 2026 this week and had Allar ranked as the No. 115 prospect and the fifth-best quarterback behind Mendoza, Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Carson Beck from Miami, and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier.
Mendoza and Beck just squared off in the national championship game a few months back, so there is no shame in being ranked behind them. However, it could be a bit concerning if this is the general feeling about Allar throughout the league considering Simpson’s inexperience and Nussmeier’s precipitous fall on draft boards after an equally rocky season.
There is no doubt that the former five-star recruit has the best physical traits of any quarterback in the class, but he just hasn’t been consistent enough in his production. There are obviously some teams that believe in Allar’s potential development, but he’ll need to work tirelessly to regain the perception scouts had of him before last season.
FollowNittany Lions Wire on X andFacebook.
