ClutchPoints
With the 2026 NFL Draft rapidly approaching and the top-18 picks officially locked in following the end of Week 18, premier talents around the college football rankings have begun to position themselves for their professional futures.
For some players, that means identifying their best fits and preparing for the interview process at workouts, all-star game, and the combine, but for others, it could also include looking for ways to avoid a landing spot that could be detrimental to their long-term career.
Case and point, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, who is projected as a top-2 quarterback come April. While he should theoretically be excited to join a team with a top-10 pick, in the opinion of Todd McShay, he should do everything in his power, including returning to college, to avoid landing with the New York Jets.
“If you’re representing Dante Moore, with the Raiders, you know, you have an organization steep in history with an owner whose father is steep in the like, like entrenched in the great history of the NFL, trying to do the right thing, misguided at times, brings in Tom Brady, who can be a source of like helping. Although this first go round was not pretty, but how much did Tom, I feel like next year, with a new coaching staff, as we all presume Pete Carroll will be out and there will be a new staff. Would you or would you not, as the representation or the representative, the rep for Dante Moore, kind of reach out to the Raiders and say, ‘Hey, my client’s trying to make a decision.’ Give me, we can live with going to 30 of the 32 teams. Maybe it’s 31. I can’t allow him to go to the New York Jets,” McShay declared.
“And I realized in 2027, maybe he’s the seventh pick or the fifth pick or, you know, or maybe he’s the first overall pick in the Jets, have all that ammo, and they can get him there. But I can’t allow him to just, he’s got an opportunity to go back to Oregon, probably make the same amount of money that he’s going to make in his rookie contract. Phil Knight will make that happen. So I can allow my client to go back to Oregon and have another season with a new offensive coordinator. Cause Will Stein’s going to Kentucky, or you can pretty much promise me that he’s going to be the number one overall pick. Is that so far-fetched? Because not one single player in this entire draft, unless they grew up a Jets fan or have some kind of family tie, wants to be a New York Jet.”
Oof, after watching Aaron Glenn’s squad turn in an all-time bad campaign in his maiden voyage with the Jets, with the former Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator leading the first defense since 1933 to record zero interceptions over a season, getting this kind of intel from a premier NFL Draft analyst is beyond disheartening....
