Jordan Reid’s updated 2027 NFL Draft top 50: Arch Manning drops off, Drew Mestemaker is QB1 at No. 8 and Utah tackle Zereoue Williams lands at 14

Arch Manning is gone from Jordan Reid’s 2027 NFL Draft top 50. The updated list keeps Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith at No. 1 and makes Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, ranked eighth overall, the first quarterback in the class, while five other passers stay on the board without the Texas starter.

Reid refreshed the ranking on Wednesday, October 21, three weeks after his first version, and described it as the product of his own film and in-person scouting plus conversations with scouts and evaluators around the league. The stats he lists run through the October 17 college games. Thirty-three of the 50 players are underclassmen, so a good part of the board still depends on who declares.

My updated 2027 Top-50 draft prospects:

• WR & Safety classes 📈
• Big changes at OT
• QB1 emerging

Full List: https://t.co/m9KlClSkdJ pic.twitter.com/3EeBDCht7h

— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) October 22, 2026

Reid’s top 50

The Kiper rank column shows where the same player sits on Mel Kiper Jr.’s top 25; NR means he is not in Kiper’s top 25. The notes are our summary of the numbers and status Reid lists.

Smith on top, defenders behind him

Smith has 52 catches for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns, nearly 19 yards a reception, and Reid’s case for him is simple: a receiver who can be a team’s top target from his first snap and change what an offense can do. The one thing he wants cleaned up is how sharply Smith changes direction at the top of routes.

Seven of the next nine spots go to defenders. Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore is second, followed by edge rushers Dylan Stewart of South Carolina and Colin Simmons of Texas. Reid calls Stewart’s burst rare but notes the production has not caught up with the tools, and he flags the high-ankle sprain that already has Simmons out of Texas’ game against Ole Miss. Georgia cornerback Ellis Robinson IV is 10th here and 22nd for Kiper, and Tennessee defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam, 11th on this list with five sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss, does not make Kiper’s top 25 at all.

Six quarterbacks, and no Manning

Mestemaker and Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss are the only passers in the top 15. “Mestemaker is my top quarterback prospect,” Reid wrote, while warning that the Oklahoma State starter is in only his second season running an offense, can be streaky and gives the ball away when he forces throws into tight windows. He has 1,940 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Behind him, the order splits sharply from Kiper’s. Chambliss is 15th, with his size and age the knocks Reid expects teams to raise. Miami’s Darian Mensah, fourth for Kiper, is 17th here despite completing 80.8% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and one interception; Reid likes his touch and his reads but wants better ball security under pressure. Notre Dame’s CJ Carr is 21st, with arm strength Reid grades as average, Missouri’s Austin Simmons 24th because of a small sample, and Oregon’s Dante Moore 37th.

Manning was among Reid’s top five quarterbacks in the early-October version of the list. Reid had already put a Day 2 grade on him 10 days ago, and the update now leaves him out of the top 50 entirely, where Kiper still has him 24th.

A tackle Kiper does not rank

Reid’s own summary pointed to big changes at offensive tackle, and the most striking placement is Utah’s Zereoue Williams at No. 14. The 6-foot-8, 305-pound senior has allowed pressure on none of his 381 snaps, according to the numbers Reid lists, though Reid says his inexperience still shows within games. LSU’s Jordan Seaton, 12th, is still the top tackle, while Texas’ Trevor Goosby sits 30th, nine places lower than on Kiper’s board. Notre Dame places six players on the list, more than any other school, and Indiana has receivers Charlie Becker (6th) and Nick Marsh (18th) in the top 20.

What comes next

Reid plans to grow the list beyond 50 players as the draft approaches. Mestemaker as QB1 matches most of the recent mock drafts, but the gap between Reid and Kiper on Mensah, Carr and Manning is the debate to watch over the second half of the college season.