Ben Roethlisberger hearing rumors about Arch Manning draft status

Though the 2025 NFL season hasn’t even started yet, fans have already begun to wonder which team will pull the ripcord early to best position themselves to draft Arch Manning with the first overall pick.

On paper, it makes sense, right? An NFL team is only as good as its quarterback, and Manning is widely considered the best prospect to leave the college ranks since Caleb Williams out of USC, with Cooper Manning’s son having easily gone first overall over Cam Ward if he were eligible back in April. Even if it “sucks” to have one bad season, that strategy certainly worked for the Indianapolis Colts with Andrew Luck, even if the franchise has never been the same since he retired.

And yet, what if Manning doesn’t leave Texas after the 2025 season? What if, in the new NIL era, he decides to stay, making insane money with fewer responsibilities while cementing himself as a Longhorns legend? Well, that’s a rumor Ben Roethlisberger has been hearing could happen, as he explained on Footbahlin.

“I know everyone’s talking about next year as a big quarterback class, but I’m hearing rumors that like Arch Manning is not coming out,” Ben Roethlisberger said. “Like he’s staying. So you know, take that, maybe the draft class next year isn’t as good as people think. There’s a lot of questions out there still.”

Whoa, could Roethlisberger be right? Would Manning opt to take his talents back to Texas, even if he was really good, in order to enjoy the college experience before following in his uncles’ footsteps on the way to the NFL?

Well, if Manning struggles, then such an outcome feels far more likely but if he shines in his third post-high school season, it’s hard to imagine that Longhorns Nation would be able to put together an NIL deal worth enough to keep Manning in college ranks, as his destiny is to test his mettle at the NFL level.