NIL
Can UW Sports Compete In Division I As Lower Divisions Offer More NIL Money?
Scott Ortiz watched from the stands at War Memorial Stadium on Nov. 22 as the University of Wyoming Cowboys faced Nevada in what should have been a season-defining moment for the school’s football program.
The atmosphere was electric — one of the most charged Ortiz had experienced since star quarterback Josh Allen was slinging passes for the Brown and Gold.
The crowd roared.
The energy crackled through the crisp November air.
On the field, however, the Cowboys couldn’t convert when it mattered.
“You’re watching the game and you’re realizing that if we had money to spend at certain skill positions, we could easily convert these third downs, we could keep drives alive, and we just don’t,” Ortiz told Cowboy State Daily. “Our inability to move the ball to score in that electric atmosphere was just painful.”
The 13-7 loss to Nevada was only the beginning.
Wyoming went on to score just seven points total in its final four games — a stunning collapse that left the Cowboys out of bowl eligibility and left the Casper attorney and longtime UW booster convinced that without action, Wyoming athletics faces an existential crisis.
The Pokes’ dismal end to the 2025 season kept them out of a bowl game.
Now in the heart of football bowl season and the college football playoffs, sports fans around Wyoming will continue to debate how best to shape the future of UW football.
Should UW do all it can to pay for the best players in an effort to climb the totem pole of television ratings and one day contend for a playoff berth in big-time Division I competition?
Or should Wyoming go the way of Saint Francis University, one of a growing number of schools voluntarily dropping out of the rat race for TV revenue and voluntarily leaving the Division 1 ranks?
College Is Pro
Chase Horsley has watched college athletics transform from his perch at “The 5 Horsemen” podcast in Gillette, where he covers Wyoming sports for Horseman Broadcasting and Entertainment.
“Nothing is the same anymore,” Horsley told Cowboy State Daily. “It kind of feels like more of the NFL type of thing.”
The NIL era of paying players has created a new reality where talent flows toward money.
Horsley sees it affecting Wyoming’s ability to keep homegrown talent and recruit out-of-state prospects to choose UW. Then there’s the challenge of keeping talented players from being lured away by other universities with larger NIL war chests.
“The Wyoming kids aren’t really trying to go to the University of Wyoming,” Horsley said. “Some of them are going, some of them aren’t going.”
The lure is obvious.
“Would you not want to go play if you’re going to get paid, like, a million bucks or $500,000?” Horsley asked. “I mean, we’ve got college kids that are getting out of college and are millionaires.”
For Ortiz, the comparison to schools within Wyoming’s own competitive tier is damning.
Research shows that Montana and Montana State — schools competing in the Football Championship Subdivision, a tier below Wyoming’s Football Bowl Subdivision — are spending about $2.2 million on NIL, while Wyoming hovers around $1.4 million.
“Isn’t that shockingly embarrassing to think about?” Ortiz said. “Schools that don’t sit on the wealth of money we do are outspending us.”
Ortiz said he’s speaking with legislators about tapping into a tiny fraction of the state’s mineral-wealth rainy day fund to help back UW athletics.
He points to what he considers a wake-up call from neighboring Utah: Brigham Young University reportedly paying $7 million to one basketball player.
Left Behind
Not everyone in Wyoming is convinced the answer is more spending. Some voices have quietly suggested the Cowboys consider stepping down in the Division I ranks and from FBS competition entirely.
Alan Stuber, a Gillette Police Department patrol officer and lifelong Wyoming fan who wrestled collegiately at Dakota Wesleyan, has heard the arguments.
“There’s always been an argument of, ‘Well, why don’t we just go to the Big Sky (Conference) and kind of deal with the South Dakota States,'” Stuber told Cowboy State Daily. “Their football program is very successful year after year at making the (FCS) playoffs.”
But Stuber rejects that reasoning.
“In my mind, it’s still a step down,” he said. “Those are the schools that have the least amount of NIL money. So they’re going to be content where they’re at.”
Stuber points to the career trajectory of former Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl as evidence of Division I’s value.
“If it wasn’t such a big deal to be a D-1 college, why did Coach Bohl make the move from North Dakota State to Wyoming?” Stuber asked.
For Stuber, the choice is binary: “You either roll with the changes or get left behind. And I feel that Wyoming is kind of on that verge of getting left behind.”
Cautious Dissent
One Laramie resident who contacted Cowboy State Daily took the opposite view, arguing Wyoming should follow the lead of Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, which announced in March it would transition from Division I to Division III.
“That is exactly what Wyoming should do,” the reader wrote, suggesting the university examine “the zero athletic scholarship Division III” model or even “club sports.”
The reader, who asked to remain anonymous, explained the reason for his reluctance to go public.
“I do not wish to stimulate even more harassment or other adverse actions from the university’s administration by being made part of this story,” he wrote.
Saint Francis is part of a small but growing list of schools reconsidering their Division I commitments. The University of Hartford completed its transition from D-I to D-III in September 2025.
Another St. Francis — St. Francis College in Brooklyn — eliminated all athletics programs entirely in 2023. Sonoma State University in California cut all 11 intercollegiate athletic programs in January 2025.
But such moves remain the exception.
Before 2025, only two schools in the previous quarter-century had voluntarily dropped from Division I to Division III: Centenary College in Louisiana (2009) and Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama (2006).
Begging To Get In
UW Athletic Director Tom Burman offered a pointed rebuttal to those suggesting Wyoming consider the FCS route.
“The better question is, why are Montana, Montana State begging to get into the Mountain West?” Burman told Cowboy State Daily. “I can tell you that the top tier of the FCS is willing to pay money to join the Mountain West.”
Horsley, despite his concerns about NIL pressures, agrees that dropping down would be a mistake.
“I think they would do well with the Big Sky,” Horsley said. “But I think revenue-wise and like booster clubs, things like that, I think they would want to just keep D-1 and in the FBS.”
The financial gap between the two levels remains substantial.
Mountain West schools receive about $3.5 million annually from the conference’s television deal with CBS and Fox — a six-year, $270 million agreement running through 2025-26, according to The Associated Press.
The Big Sky Conference’s ESPN deal, while recently extended through 2029-30, does not publicly disclose per-school distributions, though Big Sky Commissioner Tom Wistrcill has said the new contract includes a “very nice increase in dollars.”
New upstart members like Utah Tech have agreed to receive no media revenue until 2030-31, according to membership agreements obtained through public records requests by the sports website Hero Sports.
Total athletic department budgets tell a similar story.
Wyoming’s annual budget sits around $50 million, according to NCAA financial reports compiled by USA Today.
In the Big Sky, budgets range from Sacramento State’s $35.8 million down to Idaho State’s $12.1 million, with Montana and Idaho around $22-23 million, according to the USA Today database.
Yet on NIL specifically, the picture is more complicated.
Montana’s estimated $2.2 million in collective spending actually exceeds Wyoming’s, according to NIL tracking data compiled by nil-ncaa.com, placing it ahead of even some Big 12 teams in the NIL arms race.
“We struggled from the time NIL started really in ’22 until the end of June this past year,” Burman said. “We struggled getting people — Wyoming fans, alumni, donors — to invest in the collective.
“It’s just not something Wyoming people embraced.”
At A Crossroads
For Ortiz, the stakes extend beyond wins and losses. He sees Wyoming at a historical crossroads, comparing the current moment to the program’s darkest chapter.
“We are now at probably the biggest low point since the Black 14 in 1970,” Ortiz said.
The Black 14 incident actually happened in October 1969, when 14 Black players planned to wear black armbands during an upcoming game against Brigham Young University.
They sought to protest the LDS Church’s policy barring Black men from the priesthood, amid broader racial tensions that included racist taunts directed at Wyoming’s Black players during BYU games.
When the players approached head coach Lloyd Eaton for permission, he expelled them on the spot, citing team rules against demonstrations.
“It took Wyoming a decade to recover from that when they lost all those players,” Ortiz said. “And I see this as exponentially more dangerous.”
Without action, Ortiz fears a spiral that could fundamentally alter Wyoming’s place in college athletics.
“Once people say, ‘OK, you’re on a losing slide anyway, and you’re not an exciting team, and you’ve already been passed over to go to a better conference, and you don’t have any money to pay us anyway’ — I mean, we could become the doormat of the Mountain West,” he said. “Or worse.”
Does worse mean dropping down to the Big Sky Conference?
“Maybe the Big Sky doesn’t want us,” Ortiz said. “Maybe we’re in a league with Chadron State. From an enrollment standpoint, there’s a lot of Division II and Division III schools that have the same enrollment as Laramie does.”
He warns those calling for self-relegation that, “You literally might as well say, ‘Fine, we’ll just be a rodeo school and have a good science department.’”
Contact David Madison at david@cowboystatedaily.com
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
The transfer portal is really bringing out some of the wildest recruiting tools from college football programs.
For example, on Saturday, both UCF and Houston posted photos on social media aimed at players in the transfer portal to advertise there is “no state income tax” in either Florida or Texas.
It’s certainly a big, bold strategy for both programs to take with the portal deadline approaching on Jan. 16. They could use any advantage at their disposal right now as they try to keep pace with the rest of the Big 12.
BYU is the only program in the conference behind Houston and UCF in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings.
NIL
What is Fernando Mendoza ‘s NIL Deals in 2026 – Salary with the Indiana Hoosiers and Career Earnings
With just minutes to go before the Peach Bowl showdown between the No. 1 undefeated and undisputed Indiana Hoosiers and the Oregon Ducks, all eyes are on Heisman QB Fernando Mendoza to see if he can pull off one last miracle. While he’s locked in for the biggest test of his career, some folks are wondering just how much the QB1 is actually bringing home for taking the Indiana Hoosiers to their best ever season before he heads to the NFL.
Fernando Mendoza’s Contract Breakdown
Fernando Mendoza is right in the middle of the new age of college football where players actually get paid by their schools. He doesn’t have an old-school professional contract yet, but he does have a binding agreement with Indiana University through a new revenue-sharing plan. This is separate from the money he makes from his various endorsement deals with big names like Adidas and Dr Pepper. It’s how the top guys get their cash flow now – a mix of school money and brand deals.
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Actually looking back on the last five years, Fernando has been busy just being a world-class student and certified player. He played for the UC Berkeley Golden Bears from 2022 through 2024, becoming a full-time starter in 2023 and graduating from the Haas School of Business last summer with a degree in business administration. Explains why his post-game pressers are gems.
December 06, 2025: Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza 15 holds up MVP trophy after NCAA, College League, USA football game action between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. /CSM Indianapolis United States of America – ZUMAc04_ 20251206_zma_c04_714 Copyright: xJohnxMersitsx
However, the big leap of faith came with his transfer to Indiana for the 2025 season. It came with around $2 million worth of greens.
The real money jump is still in the future. Fernando is expected to enter the 2026 NFL Draft after this season wraps up. Right now, all the experts think he’ll be the number one pick overall. If that happens, he will finally sign a true professional contract with an NFL team that could be worth well over $55 million. That’s when his current college earnings will look like small pennies compared to his pro salary!
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What is Fernando Mendoza’s salary?
Because of NCAA rules, Fernando doesn’t get a “salary” from his school, so his bank account grows through Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals instead. Think of it as a collection of high-paying side hustles rather than one steady paycheck from the university. Since NIL only became a thing in 2021, he went from earning nothing early in his career to a millionaire this season.
Right now, analysts estimate Fernando Mendoza’s total net worth to be somewhere between $800k and $1.5 million. It’s a bit of a moving target because of things like taxes and how some of that money might be structured in trusts. His NIL earnings jumped from $1.6 million to the current $2.6 million after taking his Hoosiers to 14-0, including first outright Big 10 title since 1955.
Fernando Mendoza’s NIL Deal Net Worth/ Sponsors
Fernando has some pretty big-name sponsors backing him. He’s signed deals with major brands like Dr Pepper, T-Mobile, and even Epic Games (you know, the Fortnite folks). Can’t forget his biggest one. Adidas contract. Last month, Mendoza took it to his Linkedin to flex his Three stripes deal,“Excited to share that I’ve accepted an opportunity to join adidas!
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I’m very grateful for everyone who has supported me along the way and excited to bring my passion for sport, leadership, and work ethic to the Three Stripes. Let’s get to work.”
He also has partnerships with Keurig, Rent-A-Center, and Royal Canin. The exact length of these individual contracts isn’t made public, but they’re all part of what makes up his impressive total earning potential. But here’s a rough estimation:
(Mind, this is just a rough estimation to give you an idea.)
Fernando Mendoza’s NIL welfare
What’s really cool is that Fernando is using his fame for good. He’s pledged to donate all of his NIL earnings to the Mendoza Hope Fund, which supports after-school programs and scholarships. Plus, he launched a “Mendoza Mania” merchandise line, and all the money from that goes to the National MS Society, a cause close to his heart because his mother has MS (Multiple Sclerosis).
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The truth is, he turned his college years into a multimillion-dollar platform. All that while staying humble enough to give back to charity. Whether he beats Oregon today or not, he has already won the financial game and the hearts of the state of Indiana by putting a basketball-first program on the CFP semifinals map. It’s only a matter of time before his NFL career takes off.
The post What is Fernando Mendoza ‘s NIL Deals in 2026 – Salary with the Indiana Hoosiers and Career Earnings appeared first on EssentiallySports.
NIL
Stephen A. Smith: ‘There’s some mediocrity within the SEC’ after missing national title game once again
The Southeastern Conference will once again be absent from the national championship stage. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes the issue runs far deeper than a single postseason loss.
Following Ole Miss’ defeat to Miami in the College Football Playoff semifinals, Smith delivered a pointed critique of the SEC on First Take, arguing that the conference’s long-held dominance has eroded in the modern NIL and transfer portal era. The loss marked the third consecutive season the SEC will miss the national title game, an unthinkable outcome just a few years ago.
“They ain’t feeling you anymore,” Smith stated. “When you look at the absence of depth, why? Because players are choosing to go elsewhere. It ain’t just the second-stringers anymore. You got some all-world players saying, ‘We don’t have to be in the SEC anymore the way that we used to.’”
Smith pointed to the growing national parity as evidence that the SEC’s grip on elite talent has loosened. With players now empowered by NIL opportunities and immediate eligibility via the transfer portal, Smith argued that the conference no longer holds the same gravitational pull it once did.
“We’ll go to the Big Ten, we’ll go to the Big 12, we’ll go to the ACC,” Smith stated. “You see some of these cats in Miami, how are they looking? Think about that for a second here.”
Beyond roster movement, Smith also questioned whether the SEC still boasts the same sideline advantage it once did. He specifically referenced the transition at Alabama, where Kalen DeBoer replaced Nick Saban, calling the shift a clear inflection point.
“He’s a good coach,” Smith said of DeBoer. “He just ain’t in the same class as Nick Saban. So, there’s a precipitous drop off there.”
Moreover, Smith argued the landscape began changing when Georgia won back-to-back national titles, exposing a widening gap between the league’s elite and the rest of the conference. From there, he rattled off programs he believes no longer resemble their former selves, including Auburn, Arkansas, Florida and LSU.
“This ain’t the days of Urban Meyer,” Smith explained. “They don’t have Tim Tebow in Florida. They don’t look the same.”
While acknowledging that the SEC remains powerful, Smith concluded that its mystique has faded. Where the league once featured five or six national title-caliber programs, he now sees a conference filled with teams that look increasingly beatable.
“There’s some mediocrity within the SEC Conference,” Smith concluded. “The allure is gone. They’re a powerful conference, but the allure that they once had has been eviscerated. Period.”
As the College Football Playoff moves forward without an SEC team competing for the title once again, Smith’s comments underscore a growing national conversation. Whether college football’s most dominant league is still setting the standard, or simply chasing it.
The Oregon Ducks’ season came to an end in the College Football Playoff semifinals in a 56-22 loss to Indiana at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Dante Moore finished with 285 yards through the air and two touchdowns. However, the Duck’ star quarterback had three turnovers with two fumbles and one interception in what could be his final game in an Oregon uniform.
On Multi-Turnover Game
Moore hasn’t had many multi-turnover games. He tossed two interceptions in the loss to Indiana during the regular season and he did it again in the first-round CFP win vs. James Madison. He didn’t shy away from taking responsibility for the turnovers.
“First thing is first, the quarterback has to protect the football. They have a great defense, great disguise and different looks, but you can’t win football games if you’re causing turnovers. Something of course I need to work at. It comes with just reps. But overall, I mean, Indiana defense is great, defensive coordinator, but at the end of the day, we beat ourselves,” Moore said.
On First Lost Fumble
Moore’s first fumble came in the begininng of the second quarter as Oregon was attempting to make a comeback down 20-7. Backed up inside their own 15-yard line, Moore coughed up a costly turnover.
“On that play, it was running back was behind me in the pistol and tried to throw the smoke screen off the field. I gotta clear the midline better to make sure that when I am going to throw, I don’t hit the running back in his elbow. So the ball hit his elbow, but at the end of the day, it’s on me. I gotta take care of the ball and make sure they’re out of the way and get the ball to the receivers,” Moore said.
On Relationship With Ducks’ Center Iapani Laloulu
After the final whistle, Moore embraced center Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu in a powerful moment that represented the Ducks’ brotherhood.
“Poncho is somebody I love to death, and we’ve been through a lot this year, and I love him to death. And he’s just somebody that’s always willing to pray for me. He prayed for us in that moment, just prayed for the season. Just at the end of the day, Jesus won,” Moore said.
“At the end of the day, you have to give him his glory. It is just two competitive teams that’s playing on the biggest stages in the world right now. And at the end of the day, you gotta give God the glory win or loss,” Moore added.
MORE: What Dan Lanning Said After Oregon’s Loss to Indiana
MORE: Instant Takeaways From Oregon’s Playoff Loss to Indiana
MORE: Dante Moore NFL Outlook Comes Into Focus After Peach Bowl Loss
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On NFL Aspirations
Regardless of how he played vs. Indiana, Moore is still seen as one of the top prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft if he chooses to declare. He gave a brief update on where he is with his decision process.
“I knew that question was coming. Yeah. I want to soak this moment up. That’s most important. Just giving hugs and just thank yous to my teammates, but at the end of the day, I don’t know my decision yet,” Moore said.
I’m going to talk to Coach Lanning and talk to my family and everybody, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to think about that right now. I just want to think about my teammates and give love to them. Appreciate you though,” Moore continued.
On Indiana’s Crowd Size
The entire Mercedes-Benz Stadium was filled with Indiana red. It became apparent very quickly for the Ducks that the Hoosiers would have the crowd on their side.
“I thought it was just the red seats, but it was the Indiana fans. They had a ton of fans here. Of course I’m just glad that the fans from Oregon were able to make it. I’m glad they came. Yeah, but it was pretty loud. At the end of the day, the dome gets pretty loud, but we prepared for loud situations and changed up the cadence. But yeah, they came out and showed out,” Moore said.
On His Faith
“My faith has taken me a long way, my freshmen year at UCLA. That was the most adversity I’ve been in my life. Being 17 years old in LA, there’s not many people I could rely on. You know, I am from Detroit, Michigan, very far from there,” Moore said.
“I know God is always on my side through the good, bad and ugly. Just someone I relied on, prayed everyday to. And even right now, you know, the sun will come up in the morning and give me light, walk in His path, and trust in His journey that he has for me. It’s God’s time in everything I do,” Moore added.
On Learning From Indiana Quarterback Fernando Mendoza
While doing game prep for the Hoosiers, Moore made it a point to study a bit of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
“Quarterbacks learn from each other. Of course when I watched the film, I’m not just going to watch our side of the ball. I’m going to watch him. He’s done a great job all year especially in the red area protecting the football, scoring, doing what they’ve been doing. They’re on the field for a reason,” Moore said.
“I give him his credit. Somebody I’m going to stay in touch with when it comes to just talking ball, talking life, but quarterbacks learn from each other. And I’m excited how much I can learn from this game and learn from my future coming up,” Moore continued.
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A transfer portal spiraling out of control prompted the new regulatory body for college sports to issue a memo to athletic directors Friday night saying it has “serious concerns” about some of the multimillion-dollar contracts being offered to players.
The “reminder” from the College Sports Commission came out about an hour before kickoff of the semifinal between Indiana and Oregon in a College Football Playoff that has shared headlines with news of players signing seven-figure deals to move or, in some cases, stay where they are.
The CSC reminded the ADs that, according to the rules, third-party deals to use players’ name, image and likeness “are evaluated at the time of entry in NIL Go, not before, and each deal is evaluated on its own merits.”
“Without prejudging any particular deal, the CSC has serious concerns about some of the deal terms being contemplated and the consequences of those deals for the parties involved,” the memo said.
Under terms of the House settlement that dictated the rules for NIL payments, schools can share revenue with their players directly from a pool of $20.5 million. Third-party deals, often arranged by businesses created to back the schools, are being used as workarounds this so-called salary cap.
The CSC, through its NIL Go portal, is supposed to evaluate those deals to make sure they are for a valid business purpose and fall within a fair range of compensation for the services being provided.
The CSC did not list examples of unapproved contracts, but college football has seen its share of seven-figure deals luring players to new schools since the transfer portal opened on Jan. 2.
One high-profile case involved Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who initially sought to enter the transfer portal and turn his back on a reported deal worth $4 million with the Huskies. Legal threats ensued and Williams changed course and stayed at Washington.
“Making promises of third-party NIL money now and figuring out how to honor those promises later leaves student-athletes vulnerable to deals not being cleared, promises not being able to be kept, and eligibility being placed at risk,” the CSC letter said.
The commission listed two rules about contracts it evaluates, some of which have been termed “agency agreement” or “services agreement” in what look like attempts to bypass the rules.
—”The label on the contract does not change the analysis; if an entity is agreeing to pay a student-athlete for their NIL, the agreement must be reported to NIL Go within the reporting deadline.”
—”An NIL agreement or payment with an associated entity or individual … must include direct activation of the student-athlete’s NIL rights.” This is a reference to the practice of “warehousing” NIL rights by paying first, then deciding how to use them later.
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A prominent college quarterback faced a difficult reality check during a lopsided College Football Playoff semifinal defeat on Friday night.
The signal-caller struggled with turnovers and the pace of play throughout the contest while his team fell well short of reaching the national championship stage. The performance raised immediate questions about whether the young passer is truly prepared to make the jump to the professional ranks.
The Ringer’s Todd McShay offered a blunt assessment of the prospect’s readiness following the game. The analyst argued that the quarterback lacks the requisite experience to succeed immediately in the NFL and pointed to the low number of career starts as a major red flag. McShay emphasized that rushing the development process often leads to failure for talented but raw players.
McShay suggested that history provides a clear warning for quarterbacks who enter the draft without enough collegiate repetitions. He believes the player would benefit significantly from returning to school to accumulate more game action. The analyst relied on data and trends to support his claim that the passer is not yet equipped to handle the complexities of the next level.
Historical trends suggest Dante Moore needs more time at Oregon
Todd McShay specifically identified Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore as the player who needs to return to school during his The McShay Report podcast. McShay used a long list of successful quarterbacks to illustrate the value of collegiate experience. He noted that players like Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels benefited immensely from staying in school longer.
“Bo Nix: 60+ starts. 50+starts are: Cam Ward, Jayden Daniels. 40+: Baker, Purdy, Penix, Herbert, Hurts, Dart,” McShay stated. “30+: Cousins, Geno, Goff, Daniel Jones, Trevor, Stafford, Lamar, Dak, Caleb, Love.”
McShay contrasted this list with Moore, who has made only 20 starts. He argued that the few quarterbacks who succeeded with fewer starts are rare outliers.
“The two guys that are sub-30 but still had 25 or 29, in Mahomes and Josh Allen respectively, are superhuman,” McShay explained. “And Mahomes sat a year with Alex Smith, teaching him in the quarterback room, and Andy Reid, one of the great developers. Everyone seems to forget Josh Allen really struggled as a rookie.”
The analyst pointed to specific struggles Moore had during the 56-22 loss to Indiana. He highlighted how the speed of the game seemed to affect the sophomore’s processing.
“I’m looking at Dante Moore in his 20th start, and he looks like a guy, and yeah, the running back on the RPO shouldn’t have hit his elbow to throw,” McShay observed. “But the strip sack and several other plays. I’m watching the quarterback. Yes, there were, your receivers are covered up, but we got to speed up that clock, man. I don’t think Dante Moore’s ready.”
McShay warned that ignoring historical trends often results in drafting busts. He listed several quarterbacks who struggled after entering the league with questions about their readiness.
“Knowing the history, and knowing all the problems, and knowing the Trubiskys and the Haskins and the Mark Sanchezes and the Anthony Richardsons,” McShay said. “Hearing that list I just gave you, and watching him then tonight, are you comfortable taking him at one overall?”
The analyst concluded that one more season would put Moore in a much safer category for NFL evaluators.
“He can come back next year, play 12, 13, 15 more games. And now he’s in the range we’re talking about with Stafford, Lamar, Dak, Caleb, Love,” McShay said. “I feel a lot more comfortable then.”
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