The Final Drive 1/14: Dante Moore Shakes Up the 2026 NFL Draft with Return to Oregon
The NFL Draft just had it's first big earthquake of the 2026 offseason cycle.
Today was a critical day on the football calendar. It was the deadline for underclassmen not playing in the College Football Playoff championship game to declare for the draft and all eyes were on Dante Moore as he was the lone significant name to not formally announce his decision on this year’s draft.
“With this decision, mainly all my life has just been about being as most prepared as I can for any situation I go into,” Moore told “SportsCenter.” “And when it comes to me making my decision, I just want to do what’s best for my situation, especially as a quarterback.
“With my decision, it’s been very tough. I’ve prayed a lot about it, talked to many people -- my mentors and people I look up to. With that being said, of course I’ll be coming back to Oregon for one more year, being able to play for the Oregon Ducks and reach our goal and be national champions.”
Moore’s decision to return to Oregon (for a rumored $7.5M) shakes up a quarterback draft that was already slim but now lacks the second premier name. Moore will try to keep his reputation for the next cycle that has plenty of promising names eying coming out.
As for 2026, now it looks like the second quarter is Ty Simpson followed by Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss, and then it turns into anyone’s guess. It has plenty of veterans like Drew Allar, Grant Nussmeier, and Carson Beck, but the top end appeal is going to leave teams disappointed.
Now with Moore back to school, it also forces one pick in front of the Browns to go in a different direction than quarterback. The hope will be that it is a defense target as the Browns won’t want a situation where there is one less offensive tackle or wide receiver on the market. We will see soon enough.
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Now that we know Moore is off the board, I wanted to take a look at how that shakes up the Browns options at the sixth overall selection. What I noticed is more often the wide receiver, in this case Jordyn Tyson, was going in front of the place the Giants were normally selecting a top end defense talent. The first one is from PFF. Still plenty of great options there.
The next simulator is from the NFL Mock Draft Database where again Tyson is the selection at five and it gets interesting. Both the Titans and Giants go the route of wide receiver in front of the Browns and the Cardinals take the first offensive tackle off the board. This leaves the Browns down three prospects they will have direct interest in selecting where perhaps Caleb Downs selection would have been appealing to others in the 3-5 range.
Our last simulator is the PFN Mock Simulator where the Raiders and Jets make a major trade and it gives the Raiders the option to go many different directions. They take a swing at wide receiver, same for Cardinals before two defense selections happen. The Browns would have their choice of names at offensive tackle in this scenario, though.
The development with Moore now sends a slew of unpredictable consequences through the draft and it will be interesting to see how it impacts the Browns in the cycle this year. The wide receiver run is likely to happen in front of them and they will have to adjust accordingly if they want to get their guy. But regardless, they should have options at the two premier positions they need despite things becoming more difficult with today’s news.
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Feels pretty realistic to have 4 offensive players taken in the top 5.
Would be highly annoying
I am hearing that Mauigoa and Proctor project as guards. That leaves Fano as the top rated tackle.