As the 2025 season began, the volume of high-end quarterbacks resonated as one of the year’s defining themes.

Heading into Week 4, there’s still little clarity regarding who could emerge from that pack as the top quarterback for the 2026 NFL draft.

ESPN polled 25 NFL scouts and executives to see who they projected as the top quarterback for the upcoming draft. The responses were varied, as seven different quarterbacks came back as the answer for QB1 among the 25 different responses.

South Carolina‘s LaNorris Sellers came back as the top vote-getter with 8, edging LSU‘s Garrett Nussmeier (7). The next crop, in order are Miami‘s Carson Beck (3), Oklahoma‘s John Mateer (3), Penn State‘s Drew Allar (2), Arizona State‘s Sam Leavitt (1) and Texas‘ Arch Manning (1).

While a handful of hyped players have slumped, the crop is still considered a significant uptick from last season.

The poll should be considered more of a touchstone of the varied opinions than a scientific projection. Last season, we conducted the same poll heading into Week 6. At that time, Colorado‘s Shedeur Sanders led Beck (nine votes to five) among the 25 scouts/executives. Cam Ward got one vote. It’s also uncertain who will declare, as Sellers, Mateer, Leavitt and Manning all have eligibility remaining.

The way scouting works, scouts and general managers don’t evaluate everyone week by week. Many general managers don’t dig in intensively until after the season. There’s a process of checking and cross-checking that often goes by region, so many scouts haven’t dug into all the prospects in the same way they will by the end of the season.

“Much like last year,” a general manager said, “it’s hard to pick this early.”

Why is Sellers the early favorite?

“He’s got most physical talent,” one veteran scout told ESPN. “His ability to scramble and make plays with his feet as a runner. He’s instinctive and the ball comes out quick. He’s got a unique talent level. The kid, his story and how he got there. He’s got a toughness to him. It intrigues people.

“He’s got the makeup, intangibles and ability to run. He’s got the most potential to be an impact player.”

The debate between Sellers and Nussmeier came down to physical traits for some scouts. Sellers is a 6-foot-3 and 240 pound redshirt sophomore who fits the modern paradigm of quarterbacks who can be a threat in the called run game.

Nussmeier is listed at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds and is considered a good athlete, as LSU coach Brian Kelly wanted him to use his legs more this season as part of his development. While both are in their second full season as a starter, Nussmeier has been in school five seasons and is the son of an NFL offensive coordinator.

“Instinctive and finds a way,” another scout said. “He’s got a great feel for the position and a good arm.”

Beck has helped himself in the early part of the season, as he struggled in stretches during 2024 after entering the season as the projected favorite to be the top quarterback in the 2025 draft.

“Let’s see if Beck can continue his renaissance,” said a scout, “because there’s enough ability there.”

Mateer’s performance against Michigan convinced a few scouts, as he also fits the more pure dual-threat role.

Most scouts around the NFL expected Manning to go to school another year, and that belief has been amplified only by his tepid start to the 2025 season.

“He’s very talented,” a scout said. “Just from top-to-bottom, arm talent. Just understanding in the pocket and seeing the field and feeling the field. You see his arm strength.

“He just needs to get everything under control and for the game to slow down.”

Florida might be without three of its top defensive linemen when it tries to end a two-game losing streak at No. 4 Miami on Saturday night.

The Gators (1-2) will be without defensive tackles Caleb Banks and Michai Boireau, and potentially starting defensive end George Gumbs Jr., sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Saturday.

Gumbs made the trip to Miami (3-0) for Saturday’s game at Hard Rock Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and will try to play, but sources told ESPN that he’s unlikely to go.

Gumbs has 10 tackles and a half-sack in three games.

Sources told ESPN that Boireau didn’t travel to Miami and won’t play against the Hurricanes. He has five tackles in two games and missed last week’s 20-10 loss at LSU with an undisclosed injury.

Banks has already been ruled out of the Miami game after suffering a foot injury against LSU. After missing the first two games, Banks played 29 snaps against the Tigers.

Swamp247 reported Wednesday that Banks had surgery on his foot in Birmingham, Alabama, and a timeline for his return wasn’t known.

Brendan Bett, Brien Taylor Jr. and Jamari Lyons will likely continue to get the majority of playing time up front for the Gators.

“We got a really good group. I’m excited about what I see out of the young players in the group,” Gators coach Billy Napier said. “Still enough players there to have a very effective group.”

PITTSBURGH — Paul Skenes is not thinking about the National League Cy Young speech he’ll likely be asked to make the week before Thanksgiving. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace isn’t thinking about the elite company he has kept through his first two big league seasons, either.

Skenes, 23, doesn’t pitch to win awards, but games. And neither Skenes — though largely through no fault of his own — nor his team has done enough of that to avoid another last-place finish in the NL Central.

So, no matter how much Skenes believes he has grown professionally during his first full season in the majors — and he’s a near lock to become the first player in four decades to win the Rookie of the Year one year and the Cy Young the next — he’s more concerned about how the Pirates respond over the winter.

“This is a wasted year if we don’t learn what we need to do and we don’t know why we didn’t go out there and do what we wanted to do,” Skenes said Friday. “If those things happen, then it’s a wasted year, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s happening. I think — individually, as a team and as an organization — we know the adjustments we need to make. Now, we’ve just got to do them.”

A season that began with the club hoping to return to contention for the first time in a decade quickly disintegrated during a nightmarish 12-26 start that led to manager Derek Shelton’s firing. Though Don Kelly steadied things after replacing Shelton, and Skenes has been the most dominant pitcher in the game, Pittsburgh entered its final home series against the Athletics this weekend having dropped 11 of 12 to assure the franchise’s 29th losing season since 1992.

The worst offense in the majors — Pittsburgh is last or near last in every major offensive category, from runs to home runs to OPS — has also put Skenes on the cusp of making some unwanted history. Despite an MLB-leading 2.03 ERA to go with 209 strikeouts and a .199 batting average against, Skenes holds a 10-10 record heading into what will likely be his final start of the season early next week in Cincinnati.

No starting pitcher has captured the Cy Young with a record of .500 or worse. Skenes is a heavy favorite to hear his name called when the award is announced Nov. 20. By then, Skenes will already have begun his preparations for 2026. He’s hoping and expecting those around him to do the same.

“There’s room to get better in this locker room,” he said. “We just need to do it. I’m sure we’ll get some pieces and do all that, but my mind right now is ‘What can we do within the locker room to get better, now and for next year?’ There’s urgency to it, and we need to understand that and act on it.”

To Skenes, whose combination of talent, work ethic and charisma has already thrust him into a leadership role despite having been in the majors for 16 months, that means being willing to challenge yourself in new ways.

“It’s going to take a lot of guys taking a look in the mirror, figuring out what it is that they need to get better at, and making sacrifices to do that,” he said.

Kelly, who seems likely to stay as manager for his hometown team in 2026, credited Skenes for being unafraid to have “tough conversations” despite his relative inexperience. Being willing to constantly walk the walk helps.

“[It’s] just the way that he leads himself first, and then carries himself that way, works like that, dominates on the field, it gives him that voice to be able to have those conversations with other people,” Kelly said.

Pittsburgh figures to have one of the better rotations in baseball next year behind Skenes, Mitch Keller and 23-year-old Bubba Chandler. There is reason for optimism, but Skenes pointed out that the team thought the same thing at the end of last season, and yet the Pirates are playing out the string in late September again.

Pittsburgh’s quickest path to contention might be parting with some of its young pitching talent if it wants to upgrade an offense that has been woeful regardless of who is starting, even Skenes, who has an ERA of 1.74 in his 11 no-decisions.

Though Skenes said “the book is out on him” now, he has been a step — and in some cases two or three — ahead of most opponents. He believes he’s a more complete pitcher than a year ago, and he credited the Pirates for helping him successfully navigate 31 starts and 181⅔ innings and counting.

Amid the losing, Skenes has tried to remain upbeat. He has also been firm in his commitment to the team and the community. He spent a portion of a rare Thursday off day by delivering meals to firefighters and first responders at a station in the suburbs, joking that it was kind of a bummer he didn’t get to blare the horn on one of the trucks.

Though he remains under team control for the rest of the decade, general manager Ben Cherington has faced questions on whether Skenes — who will likely command record-setting numbers once he becomes eligible for salary arbitration should he stay on his current path — could be traded.

The club remains firm in its commitment to him, though there haven’t been talks about an extension, mostly because it’s not something Skenes wants to discuss during the season. That might come up over the winter, though Skenes will be more focused on shoring up what few holes he might have in his game, even if he doesn’t know what they might be.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said. “I’ll figure out exactly what it is. I know I can get better. Just got to figure out what it is.”