ESPN analyst sees Oregon QB Dante Moore as 'no doubt' first-round NFL Draft pick

Following the news that Oregon quarterback Dante Moore will miss the rest of the season due to injury, all eyes in his camp have turned toward the future. The NFL Draft looms, but where Moore ends up taken is now a highly debated topic. He was considered a potential No. 1 overall pick had he come out for the 2026 NFL Draft. He instead opted to return to school. But things went rather shakily even before his injury. [ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ] ESPN analyst Jordan Rodgers, a former quarterback, was asked on Get Up on Wednesday morning whether he believes Moore has slipped from the first round at this point. He’s a firm believer Moore is still worth a first-round pick. “Absolutely I think he is, he is a first-round pick still,” Rodgers said. “I think we have a little bit of recency bias. Last year he was the best in the country with ball location. He had more NFL translatable throws, layered throws, intermediate, perimeter throws, than (Fernando) Mendoza did. Obviously Mendoza was the right pick to go first, even if Dante was in that draft. But yes we would like to see a bigger body of work from Dante but there is still so much that you go through the tape and go, ‘That absolutely translates.'” Dante Moore finished the 2025 season with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He led Oregon to a 13-2 finish, and his return had many projecting the Ducks as one of the top College Football Playoff contenders this fall. It didn’t play out that way. Moore threw for 926 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions, but he was lost for the season following a hard late hit in a game against USC. So where does Dante Moore stack up among the quarterback prospects heading into the 2027 NFL Draft? Rodgers laid out his board, so to speak, on Get Up. “I, right now, have Trinidad Chambliss as my No. 1 quarterback for the NFL Draft next year,” he said. “And I think it’s a toss-up right now between Dante Moore and Drew Mestemaker. I think you’re drafting them for different reasons. The ceiling on Drew Mestemaker is like a Josh Allen. The arm talent, the mobility… off the charts. Need to see some more consistency. “And for Dante Moore, you’re like the throws translate, some of the decisions still could have been better, but there’s a higher floor than maybe a Mestemaker. So I think without a doubt Dante Moore is still a first-round draft pick.” The host of Get Up, Mike Greenberg, then asked Rodgers if the relative scarcity of first-round caliber quarterbacks in the 2027 NFL Draft was one of the reasons the analyst still sees Dante Moore as a first-rounder. He agreed it was. “I think CJ Carr is another name that, to me, could jump up to No. 1 or 2,” Rodgers said. “Down the stretch is going to come into play just how much he shows. Hasn’t really been tested a ton outside that BYU game. “But those are the four right now. I don’t think anybody else jumps into that group. So to me, Dante Moore’s a first-round draft pick no doubt with the tape that he put together this year and last year. There’s still — not huge — question marks; there obviously are always question marks.”