It's no secret that Arch Manning looked much better for Texas over the second half of the 2025 season than he did during the first half, but his production seemingly hasn't helped his overall grades as a passer heading into 2026.
Despite being one of the best quarterbacks in college football over the final 5-6 games of the year, PFF has quite a few other signal-callers graded out ahead of him heading into the spring.
PFF returning QB rankings heading into 2026
1. Julian Sayin - Ohio State
2. Dante Moore - Oregon
3. Brendan Sorsby - Texas Tech (from Cincinnati)
4. Drew Mestemaker - Oklahoma State (from North Texas)
5. Byrum Brown - Auburn (from South Florida)
6. Darian Mensah - Miami (from Duke)
7. C.J. Carr - Notre Dame
8. Noah Fifita - Arizona
9. Anthony Colandrea - Nebraska (from UNLV)
T-10. Jayden Maiava - USC
T-10. Arch Manning - Texas
To be 100% honest, it's incredibly surprising to see how low Manning ranks on the list heading into 2026.
It's pretty easy to see why Julian Sayin, Dante Moore, Drew Mestemaker, and two to three other guys are ranked ahead of him, but to be No.10 on the list is wild. Yes, Pro Football Focus has a certain set of criteria that it uses to grade quarterbacks from a pure passing standpoint, but Manning was just as good as anyone to end the year.
It's possible that PFF isnt taking into consideration some of the things that Arch Manning can do with his legs, but that would be pretty odd. He's one of the only quarterbacks in the nation who has the ability to take off and run for a 75-yard touchdown or throw a 75-yard touchdown at any minute.
He ended the 2025 season ranked No.9 according to PFF, so the fact that they're even higher on those other guys heading into 2026 is even more puzzling. Manning undoubtedly has the most talented group of pass-catchers amongst the nine other quarterbacks ranked ahead of him, and his offensive line will be much improved this year.
When a player is looking for some new "bulletin board" material, this is the kind of thing they want to find, and Arch Manning will undoubtedly be using this information in that way.