The Ringer’s Todd McShay on How Early a Non-QB Will be Drafted Next Spring

The quarterback class everyone was saving their powder for may not be the story of next spring's draft. Todd McShay thinks the story might be a wide receiver at the very top.

Rich laid out the puzzle for The Ringer's draft analyst. Look at the current draft order and the teams near the top don't line up with quarterback need. The Chargers don't need one, even with Herbert "not playing at all very well." The Titans have Cam Ward. The Dolphins might be in the market. The Eagles have the whole conversation about Hurts and his contract. The Jets could have three picks in the top 10, though Rich suspects the one from Dallas might not stay there. The Texans and Commanders aren't in the market. So, Rich asked, how wild would it be if the teams at the top either take non-quarterbacks or trade out?

McShay agreed the math has changed. "If Cam Ward continues to play the way he did last Sunday then yeah, you're good," he said. "And so maybe for once, Rich, considering what we just talked about, this quarterback market, maybe the supply and demand will match up. Maybe we're not reaching for a quarterback a little bit higher than we should."

He sketched a scenario where one quarterback goes in the top six and another team trades into the later part of the top 10 for the next one. Opinions vary on several prospects, including Trinidad Chambliss and Dante Moore. To McShay, the middle of the first round is about right for this group. "So I look at this class and it's about where they should go," he said. "Maybe there's one or two in the top 10."

And there is plenty beyond quarterback. "We also have a class too, don't forget, with Jeremiah Smith and Collin Simmons and Dylan Stewart and Charlie Becker," McShay said. He pointed to a Clemson cornerback people don't know much about, a do-everything defender who could play edge or off-ball linebacker, and a Tennessee interior defensive lineman he called "the most devastating defensive lineman in all of college football this year." He also counted 11 offensive tackles in his current top 58 overall, none in the top 15, and expects some of them to get bumped up.

The quarterback supply itself is uncertain, too. McShay said one prospect can go back to school, and technically so could Dante Moore, though "I'm being told by people around his camp that he's going to be a part of this class." Chambliss "has to be a part of this class," McShay said, which prompted Rich to joke about some judge somewhere finding him another year of eligibility. McShay noted CJ Carr is a redshirt sophomore who could also go back.

That brought Rich back to the top of the board. If you're the Chargers, do you just put Jeremiah Smith on the card and not even think about the "he's just a wide receiver" argument?

"That's the end of it," McShay said. He noted it would be the first time a receiver went that high since Keyshawn Johnson. Rich added that the alternative, dangling the pick so the Dolphins could trade up two spots for a quarterback you aren't sure about, makes little sense.

McShay wouldn't overthink it. "That guy's so special. I'm not messing with anything. Like I'm good. I'm going to take Jeremiah Smith and continue to see where we are offensive coordinator wise," he said. "I think that's the absolute move if you're the Chargers and you wind up with that pick."

The conversation went further from there. The argument made on air, from a self-described "Michigan guy," was that if Smith doesn't win the Heisman Trophy, the trophy becomes useless. Smith is eye-popping, the point went, with a stat line against USC that would be great for any wide receiver "and it was pedestrian" for him.

Sitting at the top of November, with the quarterback draft that teams like the Jets and Browns were waiting on not shaping up as expected, Rich summed it up. "It's going to be a fascinating draft in DC, brother."

"Oh, it is," McShay said. "I can't wait."