Trinidad Chambliss could be the surprise QB of the 2027 NFL draft class

When it comes to the 2027 quarterback class, hope springs eternal. Especially after a 2026 class that produced two first-rounders in Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson, and a 2025 class that produced two in Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart, the NFL prayer is that the 2027 group of signal-callers is more like the 2024 version, when there were three taken with the first three picks, six in the top 12, and four legit NFL starters in Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and Bo Nix. Even the relative stragglers (Michael Penix Jr. and J.J. McCarthy) haven’t run entirely out of road when it comes to their NFL potential.

Ostensibly, the 2027 class looks absolutely ridiculous from a tools and potential perspective. We could have Texas’ Arch Manning, Oregon’s Dante Moore, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, Notre Dame’s C.J. Carr, and Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby (depending on how Sorsby is affected by recent gambling allegations) all fighting to rest atop next year’s QB draft listings, and there are ways in which each one could do it. Not to mention the fact that there will be a surprise interloper who comes out of nowhere to show NFL potential.

That’s at least eight quarterbacks for NFL teams to consider next year. Of course, we also know that not every sure-thing prospect will ultimately become that even before he’s drafted; we’ve all seen the super-hyped guys fall down when they get hit without a plan.

The idea with this series is to evaluate each of the prominent future prospects with one eye on what they’ve already done, and the other on what they need to do in order to reach their ultimate ceiling. We continue the deep dive with Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss, who fought to stay in school despite a 2025 season that had him as a more than credible NFL prospect.

Last season, Chambliss completed 294 of 448 passes (65.6%) for 3,934 yards (8.8 YPA), 22 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 106.9. He also ran the ball 130 times for 585 yards (4.5 YPA), eight touchdowns and three fumbles.

After that, Chambliss filed a lawsuit to contend the NCAA denying him an extra year of eligibility, and he won that case. Now that he has another developmental year before he tries the NFL on for size, what’s already on the ball, and what does he need to refine?

Let’s dive into the tape.

Pocket movement

One of the most interesting things about Chambliss as a smaller, inherently mobile quarterback, is that he doesn’t need to leave the pocket to hit the middle of the field. Last season, when throwing to the middle of the field (directly to the middle; not middle left or middle right), Chambliss completed 46 of 70 passes for 825 yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 144.0.

His 44.45 EPA on such throws was the NCAA’s 11th-best (minimum 50 attempts), and it’s one of the more NFL-ready parts of his game. Teams at the next level that work their passing games over the middle of the field (or want to do so) won’t have to take leave of that notion with Chambliss as their quarterback.

Winning outside the pocket

On throws outside the pocket last season, Chambliss completed 37 of 64 passes for 500 yards, four touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 97.1. Chambliss has a good sense of his own mechanics when he’s throwing on the move — the arm strength is enough for him to hit his targets when he has to throw off-platform, and when he rights his shoulders to the target, he’s capable of making some really nice downfield passes from a moving pocket.

Under pressure

Chambliss has learned to deal with pressure very well — in 2025, he completed 44 of 81 passes when disrupted for 649 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 84.9. Chambliss’ yards per attempt average of 8.0 under pressure also tells you that he doesn’t automatically become Captain Checkdown when pressured. The aforementioned pocket movement helps him a lot in an NFL-conversant sense, and Chambliss has already served notice to defenses that if you blitz him, you will regret it.

Against five or more pass rushers last season, whether pressured or not, Chambliss completed 119 of 194 passes for 1,521 yards, 14 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 109.9, which has higher than his passer rating of 104.7 when he wasn’t blitzed.

You don’t see THAT too often. Chambliss will be relatively ready for an NFL that now looks to test quarterbacks with all kinds of stunts, games, and line movement, and he has anther year in college to refine that mastery.

Going through progressions

And while Chambliss did have the NCAA’s second-most RPO passing attempts last season with 94, behind only that Fernando Mendoza guy (who had 103 such attempts), Chambliss is similar to Mendoza in that he isn’t over-reliant on quick one-two RPO reads to get things done in the passing game.

On the kinds of throws that define the best quarterbacks at any level — the dig, corner, post, over, seam, and go routes — Chambliss completed 63 of 112 passes for 1,504 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 121.1, which ranked fourth in the NCAA among quarterbacks with at least 100 such attempts in the 2025 season. Chambliss can read through his second and third progressions with no problem; he won’t need his NFL coaches to break him down to the studs and start all over.

Winning as a runner

As you would expect, Chambliss’ mobility extends to his ability to make important plays as a runner, whether on designed plays or scrambles. Overall, he ran the ball 130 times for 585 yards, eight touchdowns, and three fumbles. Chambliss had 15 designed QB draw runs last season, and he averaged 4.9 yards per play with a touchdown.

I wouldn’t necessarily want to put Chambliss in the teeth of NFL defensive lines too often as a pure runner at his size — his coaches will need to be judicious about such things — but the rushing ability is just as good by design as it is when the play breaks down.

What still needs work?

• Chambliss still needs development when it comes to the timing of his throws in the design of the route concepts — he’s not always an anticipation thrower, and that can get him into trouble. The three interceptions look nice in the box score, but there were also several turnover-worthy throws last season, where he threw late into converging coverage, and it was the luck of the draw that saved him.
• The mechanics aren’t always consistent — Chambliss will get too cute at times when creating torque to throw, and he tries to do too much with his upper body. This “sticks” his lower body to the turf, and he (like most quarterbacks) can’t calculate the difference in direction and velocity when he does this.
• The arm arrogance is justified, as Chambliss can throw with authority to all levels of the field, but he will also zing the ball into obvious coverage with the presumed thought that he’s above the law, so to speak. He isn’t, and it wouldn’t take too much for his interception luck to turn in 2026, and for that to become painfully obvious.
• Chambliss doesn’t need to get outside the pocket to see the middle of the field, which is a notable attribute for any smaller quarterback, but there are times when he’ll leave the pocket when he doesn’t need to. He also doesn’t always square his shoulders to the target, which leads to other inaccuracies.
• It’s great that Chambliss can vary his velocity and ball flight on command, but there are times when he throws fastballs when off-speed pitches are required, and vice versa.

Overall, I would have placed Chambliss high on my list of 2026 quarterback prospect list had he made himself available for the draft — most likely an early second

But I would not be at all surprised if Chambliss comes out of the 2026 season higher on the 2027 QB draft list than people may imagine at this point in time.