A presumed “big three” has formed in the 2026 rookie quarterback class, with Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore, and Ty Simpson vying to be the first quarterback drafted in April. Today, I’ll take dynasty owners through a detailed comparison of how each quarterback profiles for fantasy.
Instead of simply ranking the quarterbacks, I’m going to discuss how they stack up in several key areas, with a focus on dynasty-relevant categories. That being said, quarterbacks typically need to be good real-life NFL players to maintain any kind of dynasty value, so we’re not going to ignore each player’s viability as a prospect either.
Rushing Ability
A quarterback’s ability to score fantasy points with their legs remains incredibly important for dynasty value, but it can also be a bit of a landmine, since it can sometimes carry a major discrepancy between being good for fantasy and being a good real-life player.
In this year’s class, none of the three top prospects can claim rushing as their calling card. That would be LaNorris Sellers, who unfortunately is no longer a viable candidate to be QB1 off the board this year.
Of the three players we’re discussing today, I would actually project Mendoza to add the most value with his legs. He may be the worst scrambler of this group, but he is a weapon around the goal line. At 6’5”, 225 lbs, he will frequently punch the ball in at the NFL level. This season at Indiana, he has scored six rushing touchdowns during the regular season, compared to only two and one rushing touchdowns for Simpson and Moore, respectively.
While Mendoza might be the best around the goal line, Ty Simpson is the most agile scrambler in and around the pocket. In the NFL, there is an outside shot he consistently generates fantasy points on scrambles, but most likely this won’t be a major source of fantasy points for him.
Finally, Dante Moore is the best pure athlete of this group, and he can be deadly at taking first downs when the defense loses track of him, or when the pass rushers aren’t disciplined in their rush lanes. However, it’s very important to recognize that Moore is a pocket passer first and foremost, and while he may be a good athlete, his playing style just isn’t that of a game-breaking rushing fantasy scorer.
For his part, Mendoza has some buildup speed, but he’s a tad clunky getting up to speed in improvisational situations. When scrambling, I thought Mendoza’s otherwise excellent accuracy dropped off significantly, which bodes poorly for his potential as a playmaker out of structure.
Intermediate Passing
My favorite quarterback in this area is Ty Simpson, who was asked to pick apart holes in zone coverage much more frequently than the other two. Simpson not only fitted balls into windows down the field, but he also showed the most anticipation of this group, often releasing the ball before the wide receiver even finished his break.
For the most part, Mendoza operated a quick passing offense where his timing and ball placement on short throws were more important than zipping the ball into tight windows. While he wasn’t necessarily asked to challenge the intermediate middle of the field very much, Mendoza does have excellent velocity and accuracy, and I think he projects favorably to attacking this part of the field in an NFL offense.
Dante Moore gives me some pause in this area. While he throws a really pretty ball, there is too much “see it, throw it” to his game, and perhaps a lack of anticipation. On tape, there were too many cases where I thought he could fit a tight window, or even a not-so-tight one, but went to his checkdown instead because he waited too long to confirm the window was there.
All three quarterbacks are generally accurate, but Ty Simpson sometimes placed balls poorly, allowing late-arriving cornerbacks to break up the pass. Mendoza tends to place the ball very well, and he has some “wow” throws on tape that required him to place the ball where only his teammate could catch it.
Arm Talent
Mendoza leads this group by a pretty wide margin. With the caveat that Mendoza doesn’t have a great arm in playmaking, out-of-structure situations, from the pocket he forces defenses to cover every blade of grass.
He can zip the ball outside the numbers or deep down the field with great arc and velocity. In the NFL, Mendoza can force defenses to respect hole shots against cover-2, bombs over the top, and quick outs outside the numbers, which can generate first downs in “gotta have it” situations.
While on tape I have seen Mendoza underthrow a deep ball here or there, to my eye it appears that he’s misjudging how much touch to put on the throw, rather than straining to physically get the ball any farther.
One last gripe about Mendoza is that he has a tendency to fade and lob the ball against late-arriving pass rushers, and in those situations he’s more likely to make inaccurate or even turnover-worthy throws.
While I’ve mentioned Dante Moore throws a really pretty ball, the ball sometimes dies on him when he needs to throw a rope outside the numbers. There are also cases where he loses some accuracy because he needs to over-rotate his kinetic chain to push the ball that last bit farther. It doesn’t compare to the effortless motion Mendoza can utilize to challenge the same areas of the field.
Of this group, Moore is the most accurate throwing on the run, and coupled with his athleticism, it indicates there is more potential for his playmaking and improvising than we’ve seen so far at the college level. Whether he actually develops this into a major advantage is impossible to guess.
Ty Simpson has great zip into the shorter-intermediate areas, but he seems to strain more than Moore or Mendoza when he needs to hit deep shots or to throw balls on a rope outside the numbers. When he has to hurry his process and can’t step into the throw, his throws die a little bit, which allows late-arriving defensive backs to break up passes they shouldn’t be able to make a play on.
While this might be the worst possible timing to make this comparison, Ty Simpson reminds me a bit of J.J. McCarthy in this regard. Both players threw a live, zippy ball in most cases, but didn’t have the sort of arm talent to accomplish this without an ideal base that fully recruits their entire kinetic chain.
Improvisation
I didn’t think this area was a particular strength of anybody’s game. In a pinch, Mendoza shows the ability to throw balls to covered receivers with advantageous placement that allows the receiver to make a play for him. However, when moved off his platform, I thought his accuracy tailed off, and he was more miss than hit trying to operate in these situations.
Mendoza also had a bit of a bad habit of leaning back and lobbing a prayer towards his target when staring down a blitzing rusher. Other times, though, he stands firm and delivers a big-time throw. In the NFL, it’ll be all about finding the right balance. I’d argue right now the balance is slanting in the wrong direction.
In Moore’s case, he can throw the ball down the line when he’s rolling to his right, but other than that didn’t show outstanding natural playmaking ability. With his footspeed, he may end up creating more plays by taking what the defense gives him on the ground.
Simpson was my favorite prospect in this area. As mentioned previously, he is the most agile of this group in the pocket, so he tended to extend plays for longer while remaining a thrower. His ability to scramble for first downs and even avoid tackles is solid, and most importantly, he’s very willing to step up in the pocket to avoid edge rushers who are taking the outside track to the quarterback.
On some occasions, however, this becomes the typical college quarterback headless chicken scramble. In the NFL, he’ll need to develop better judgment for what his escape path is, instead of simply dancing around behind the line of scrimmage.
Conclusion
I would rank Mendoza as QB1 in this draft, with a tier break between him and Moore/Simpson. In a recent article, I speculated Ty Simpson may go before Mendoza in dynasty drafts due to his talent for intermediate passing. In recent weeks however, he’s faded a bit, and the limits of his arm talent and decision-making have become more problematic.
While Mendoza’s draft projection may vary a lot depending on how the postseason goes, he clearly has the best arm talent of this “big three” to go along with excellent down-to-down consistency in the short game and rushing ability around the goal line.
At this point, he’s the most likely of these three players to go first overall in the NFL draft, and to my eye has the more enticing package of traits for fantasy purposes. I’d put him in the same tier as Cam Ward (strictly as a prospect) last year, whereas I’d rank Ty Simpson and Dante Moore similarly to where I had Jaxson Dart. Granted, based on their rookie seasons, I’d rather have Dart than Ward now.
Overall, all three quarterbacks will likely hear their names called in the first round of the NFL draft, assuming they declare. If the first round draft capital comes to fruition, I’d project Mendoza to a top 5 pick in Superflex dynasty rookie drafts, and picks in the back half of the first round for Simpson and Moore.