Latest NFL QB news may entice Arch Manning and family to ditch initial plan for when to leave Texas Longhorns for the NFL Draft
Will Arch Manning actually declare for the 2026 NFL Draft? That’s the multimillion dollar question that every Texas Longhorns and quarterback-needy NFL team is already asking despite Manning playing very little college football throughout his first two years in Austin.
Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, and really the entire Manning family has been rather adamant about the fact that they are not in a rush to get Arch to pros. The family wants their five star phenom legacy to take his time to develop under Steve Sarkisian at Texas, then go on to the NFL Draft when he’s ready. However, the latest news out of New Orleans may just entice Arch Manning and those who advise him to possibly ditch their initial plans after all.
Derek Carr retiring from the NFL
Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints announced on Saturday that their franchise quarterback will be retiring from the NFL. It was already recently made known that Carr was dealing with a labrum tear and potentially degenerative rotator cuff damage in his throwing shoulder. That was apparently the tipping point that led to Carr’s retirement as he shared his announcement with fans:
“Upon reflection of prayer and in discussion with [his wife] Heather, I’ve decided to retire from the National Football League. For more than 11 years we have been incredibly blessed, and we’re forever grateful and humbled by this experience.”
The New Orleans Saints had considered surgery, which would have likely meant Carr missing the entirety of the 2025 NFL season, but given the injury was to his throwing shoulder his future was most definitely uncertain even beyond this year.
The Saints will now likely turn to second year quarterback Spencer Rattler or their 2025 NFL Draft second round pick Tyler Shough in hopes that one of them can salvage this season. However, given that Rattler lost every single game he played for the Saints last year and Shough is certainly imperfect himself, there’s a real path to having the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
That’s where Arch Manning might come in.
If Arch Manning–a potential Heisman Trophy favorite–does play as well as many believe he should this season for the Texas Longhorns, leading the team deep into the College Football Playoff, and the Saints have the first overall pick next spring, that situation would be hard to pass up for the Manning family.
The opportunity to follow in his grandfather’s (Archie Manning) footsteps, playing for and possibly resurrecting the New Orleans Saints franchise from the depths of mediocrity (and much worse) would be pretty enticing.
There’s still plenty of football left to be played for both the Saints and the Texas Longhorns before Arch Manning is potentially faced with his game-changing situation for his NFL future, but everything seems to be in place for the perfect scenario to play out.
Texas Longhorns fans would obviously be disappointed to end up with just a single season of the “Arch Manning era” (thanks, Quinn Ewers), but if he projects as the no-brainer first overall pick heading into the 2026 NFL Draft then that one year was quite likely a special one.
Arch Manning already got off to an absurdly impressive start for the Texas Longhorns last season tossing nine touchdowns to just two interceptions on 90 pass attempts, averaging over 10 yards per attempt. Let’s just hope Manning continues living up to the hype like that, regardless of whether he enters the 2026 NFL Draft.
