Entering the 2025 season, Drew Allar was viewed as a potential first-rounder in the 2026 NFL Draft. Early-season struggles and a season-ending ankle injury derailed that hype train, but now, coming out of the NFL Scouting Combine, that train is back on the tracks and picking up speed.
On First Take, Monday morning, after spending a week in Indianapolis for the Combine, Schrager identified Allar as the likely QB3 in the class behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Alabama’s Ty Simpson, and even threw out the possibility of the three-year Penn State starter climbing into the first round next month in Pittsburgh.
“Drew Allar is maybe a third quarterback and potentially that guy at the end of the first round as like a waiver pick,” Schrager told Stephen A. Smith, Dan Orlovsky, and Shae Cornette on Monday. “There is a supply and demand issue with quarterbacks in this league right now. We’re talking about Malik Willis, and we’re talking about Geno Smith like people are going to be doing flips over them. If you draft a guy like Drew Allar end of the first, early second round, why not?”
This morning on @FirstTake , ESPN NFL Analyst @PSchrags brought @AllarDrew into their discussion on which QB they were most impressed with 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/2aQt6gZEpw
— State Media (@StateMediaPSU) March 2, 2026
Drew Allar is already picking up first-round buzz ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft
Schrager is well-sourced throughout NFL circles and referenced his conversations with NFL general managers when mentioning Allar as a guy who impressed in Indianapolis. He wouldn’t throw out the possibility of Allar making his way into Round 1 if it were entirely baseless. Still, it feels like a stretch for a player who never silenced his biggest doubters through 35 collegiate starts.
The former five-star has the prototypical size of an NFL quarterback and a big-time arm that he put on full display in his first public throwing session since his season-ending injury. However, there aren’t many questions about his ability to throw the ball against air. The concerns are about his ability to handle pressure, navigate muddy pockets, and maintain his accuracy when he’s forced to throw off-platform.
If Allar can develop that part of his game and get more comfortable reading defenses and aggressively pushing the ball down the field, he possesses every tool you could want in a QB prospect. But spending a first-round pick on the hope that he finally puts it all together at the next level after failing to do so through three seasons against Big Ten competition feels like a fool’s errand. Allar was a third-round pick in Saturday Blitz's latest three-round mock draft.
QB-needy teams tend to do desperate things, so it wouldn’t be unfathomable for Allar to sneak into the back of Round 1, but it would be an alarming rise from where he was after throwing another game-sealing interception against Oregon in Week 5, as the entire Penn State program began to crumble under the weight of massive expectations.