Tom Pelissero drops NFL Draft bombshell on when Carson Beck could potentially come off the board

The battle for QB3 in the 2026 NFL Draft is on. Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson appear to be the top two guys, with the former one presumably going No. 1 overall. Many wonder if Simpson has a chance of finding a way into the top 32, one of the top storylines heading into Thursday night. But there is another name that NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero is looking at as a potential first-rounder.

“Quarterback-wise, the one guy I keep coming back to,” Pelissero began. “This may not be in round one but I can’t 100% rule it out. The quarterback who is going to go higher than every projection has had him in this process, I believe, is Carson Beck… There’s enough team that have a quarterback need… I believe he goes in the second round of this draft… I would not 100% rule out the idea of Carson Beck, somehow, finding his way into the back of round one.”

Not too long ago, Beck was considered a No. 1 overall candidate. Not in this specific draft, though. This goes back to after the 2022 season at Georgia, where Beck put up incredible numbers. He, instead, decided to stay in college, play another year in Athens, before transferring to Miami. Beck’s draft stock may have fallen but plenty of team success came.

More than anything, Pelissero points to off-field issues as to why teams may not be high on Beck. But during the process, a lot of them have been cleaned up. A lot of boxes have been checked since then, showing why Beck could sneak in there.

“Carson Beck has impressed people in the process. When he’s meeting with coaches, he comes across, as one scout put it to me, a beautiful mind in terms of his football IQ. He knows exactly what’s going on on the football field.

“You remember the old Bill Parcels rules for drafting a quarterback. College graduate, senior… 30 starts, 23 wins, 60% completions, 2:1 touchdown:interception ratio. He’s above and beyond in all those metrics and he’s 6’5, has a good enough arm. Why is that guy not going high?”

As if any more storylines were needed in this year’s draft. Beck making it potentially three quarterbacks taken in the first round would generate a lot of buzz from Pittsburgh. Where he lands, as usual, will turn into a key part of the equation as well.