Texas quarterback Arch Manning is viewed as a high first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, with many seeing him as worthy of the first overall pick. Coming into the 2027 season, what are his strengths and where does he need to improve?<\/p>\n
Height: 6’4″ Arch Manning is the grandson of former NFL great Archie Manning. He’s a nephew to Eli and Payton, who each have two Super Bowl rings.\u00a0 Manning was a highly touted recruit out of high school and has remained at Texas throughout his college career. He had two starts in 2024, where he backed up Quinn Ewers (2025 seventh round pick), and was the full time starter in 2025, with a further 13 starts. Manning completed 248 of 404 passes for 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2025.\u00a0 He added 399 yards as a rusher.<\/p>\n Games Watched: at Ohio State, vs Oklahoma, and vs Michigan (Bowl Game)<\/p>\n Arch Manning is a fascinating study. The traits are obvious, and there are elements to his game that are outstanding. However, his accuracy, while it improved as the 2025 season progressed, is not good.<\/p>\n Manning has prototypical NFL size, a big arm, and is a genuine threat when he runs the ball.\u00a0 His best ability is how he operates in the pocket.\u00a0 It looks second nature to him to slide or step up as required, all the while keeping his eyes downfield. That level of pocket manipulation is NFL-ready. When moving from his first read to his second, Manning resets his feet smoothly.\u00a0 Many young quarterbacks look mechanical, but Manning does it as if it\u2019s second nature.<\/p>\n Manning\u2019s arm strength is excellent. His front foot opens when he throws enough to allow his hips to snap to generate torque and effective weight transfer.<\/p>\n While Manning is a dangerous runner, unlike many college quarterbacks, he doesn\u2019t take off at the first sign of pressure. When he does run, he has the speed to outrun angles as well as the ability to take his foot away from would-be tacklers. While he can use his big body to drive for extra yardage, he\u2019s not reckless with his body.<\/p>\n As the season progressed, and Manning became more comfortable with his receivers, there were more flashes of throwing with timing and anticipation. This should only improve in his second full season as a starter. There were also some beautifully layered throws over a second level defender. There are lots of touch passes on his tape that show he is not just a fastball thrower like Anthony Richardson coming out of Florida.<\/p>\n Manning is also more than willing to stand in the pocket to the last second and take a hit. This is something that can\u2019t be taught.<\/p>\n Arch Manning completed just 61.4% of his passes in 2025.\u00a0 His tape is littered with what the NFL will consider bad throws. His receivers routinely have to slow or stop their routes and adjust to a ball, which limits after the catch yardage. There are some passes that sail, while others are short-hopped to receivers.<\/p>\n The reason is twofold. While you can use Manning in the RPO game, as with other quarterbacks in similar systems, the footwork doesn\u2019t help accuracy. At the mesh point with the back, the base is wide and then goes to narrow to throw.\u00a0 This simple mechanical part of the RPO game does cause passes to sail.<\/p>\n The short-range accuracy is not good outside of the RPO game as Manning rushes to get the ball out and doesn\u2019t set his feet. There\u2019s one poor throw on a shallow crossing route in the Bowl game as an example, where he threw the pass with his chest square to the line with no foot movement. It should have been an easy completion, but it wasn\u2019t. When throwing on the move, he needs to take a moment to set his feet before releasing.<\/p>\n The main issue for Manning to resolve is an inconsistent release point. Changing arm angles is normally viewed as a positive, as it allows balls to get through windows when there is pressure.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if Manning is trying to throw with a three-quarter release, but unlike his pocket footwork, it\u2019s not natural, and he\u2019ll drop to a sidearm release. It\u2019s more noticeable when he can\u2019t step into a throw, and an all-arm throw is required.<\/p>\n You might assume, because of the surname (which is part of the negative of being from this quarterback powerhouse family), that Manning is an elite processor. In 2025, he was not.\u00a0 However, going into his second year as a full-time starter, this should take a step forward. It does need to if he\u2019s to be considered a high firs-round pick.<\/p>\n The 2026 Draft saw only four quarterbacks taken in the top 100 picks. Fernando Mendoza<\/a> and Ty Simpson<\/a> were the two first round picks, and both showed they can be excellent processors and work through progressions quickly and efficiently.<\/p>\n The same can be said of third round picks Carson Beck and, to a lesser extent, Drew Allar<\/a>.\u00a0 Prospects who didn\u2019t process as well but had outstanding raw traits like Taylen Green<\/a> and Cole Payton<\/a> went a lot later than many Draft analysts projected. With many NFL offenses becoming bigger and featuring more two and three tight end sets, the onus on the quarterback position is less to be a Lamar Jackson threat in a spread offense, but to be able to manage the game efficiently without throwing interceptions.<\/p>\n Manning can get through progressions, but right now, it\u2019s still too slow. He can stare down receivers before he throws, and his decision-making is still developing.\u00a0 There are times when he throws into double coverage. This was most evident on his two interceptions against Ohio State, but there was improvement in this area.\u00a0 There were glimpses of manipulating defenses with his eyes, but it\u2019s very much an area he needs to improve. At times, his eyes drew defenders to the ball, and even the biggest arm can\u2019t defeat that.<\/p>\n Manning\u2019s relative inexperience did show up in terms of the type of pass to throw. On some tight window throws down the field, he used too much touch. Equally, on some shorter throws, he threw some too hard. There\u2019s no question that his receivers didn\u2019t help him (lack of separation and drops), but equally, Manning didn\u2019t always help them. He needs to work out which club to take out of the bag more consistently. This is something that should improve with experience.<\/p>\n Manning underwent surgery on his foot in January. The Texas spring game didn’t take place, Coach Sarkisian instead holding an open practice<\/a> as Manning and others were injured.\u00a0 Manning is expected to return to practice in June<\/a>.\u00a0 This will have robbed him of practice time to work on his fundamentals.<\/p>\n The early part of the season sees a test every other week for Texas and Manning. In week two they have the return game, hosting Ohio State.\u00a0 In week four they are at Tennessee and in week six it’s the Red River Rivalry.\u00a0 The rest of the way it’s a typically tough SEC schedule, with tests including Florida, Ole Miss, at Missouri, at LSU, and finally, at Texas A&M. The complete schedule can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n This will give Manning every opportunity to show he is ready for the NFL.<\/p>\n Does the tape show a prospect who should be number one overall for the second year in a row in early mocks? In some areas, very much so, but overall, he\u2019s still more physical traits and upside than finished product. The footwork is correctable, and the processing should improve with experience. Whether he can be more consistent with his release point is slightly more up in the air.<\/p>\n It should be correctable with repetition, but under pressure, he may well revert to the bad habit of a sidearm release.\u00a0 Based on the 2025 tape, he has more physical traits than Mendoza, but is not yet the surgical passer the 2026 number one overall pick was. Manning does have two years of eligibility left and certainly has the upside to be a top five pick, but improvement is needed. If he doesn\u2019t take a big enough step forward in 2026, it wouldn\u2019t be a shock to see him stay in school for two more years.<\/p>\n Main Image: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Texas quarterback Arch Manning is viewed as a high first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, with many seeing him as worthy of the first overall pick. Coming into the 2027 season, what are his strengths and where does he need to improve? Texas Quarterback Arch Manning: Is the Hype Justified? Arch Manning\u2019s Measurables and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5857,"featured_media":243234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[33861,32984],"class_list":["post-282980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2027-nfl-draft","tag-arch-manning"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5857"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282980"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283565,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282980\/revisions\/283565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Arch Manning\u2019s Measurables and Background<\/h3>\n
\nWeight: 226 lbs<\/p>\nArch Manning’s Tape<\/h3>\n
Strengths<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Areas to Improve<\/h3>\n
Off-season Foot Surgery<\/h3>\n
Key Matchups in 2026<\/h3>\n
Final Word on Arch Manning<\/h3>\n