Many were surprised after Quinn Ewers announced he was returning to the University of Texas in 2024 that prized quarterback Arch Manning passed up entering the transfer portal to stay in Austin and sit behind Ewers for one more season.
Many of those same people just might be telling Manning he should enter the 2026 NFL Draft the following season after getting a year of starting experience under his belt, but former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees isn’t one of them.
Brees believes Manning should stay at Texas for as long as he’s eligible before testing the NFL waters.
“The best thing for Arch Manning is to spend five years at the University of Texas,” Brees told The Athletic. “I’ll pause and let everybody just absorb that. … For [Manning] to just be in a system, be in a program, learn from one of the best QB developers in Steve Sarkisian and the rest of the staff that they’ve put together. … He’s going to be playing against some of the top talent in all of college football. That’d be the best thing for him is just stay there, lock in, learn, grow, develop, become an incredible leader for that team and make a run at some national championships. Then, he will be the most prepared going into the NFL at that point.”
While Brees specifically mentioned Manning by name, he believes all young QBs could benefit from his advice of getting 50 “high-quality” college starts before considering themselves NFL-ready.
Brees himself only had 41 starts at Purdue from 1997-2000, but he pointed to Denver Broncos rookie Bo Nix as his shining example. Nix, who started 61 games in his five years at Auburn and Oregon, looked during the preseason to be the most pro-ready of all the QBs drafted in the first round this year.
And while Brees admitted it may be a bit premature to use Nix as the gold standard, he still believes his point has validity considering the number of signal-callers taken with high draft picks who flame out quickly (the 2021 and 2022 classes, in particular).
“There’s plenty of guys who have been drafted in the top 10 picks over the years who, man, they only started 10 games, 12 games, 15 games in college,” Brees added. “There’s all this talent, there’s this, there’s that and, man, they get in the NFL and they struggle, right? It’s because they just don’t have a lot of experience, and they’re not really given an opportunity to grow and develop, because you’re now in a league where it’s your job and they’re expected to win.”
