Oregon QB Justin Herbert to skip draft, play one more year of college

This raises a big question for the 2019 NFL Draft.

The 2019 NFL Draft just lost one potential first round quarterback. Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert announced on Wednesday that he will return to school for one more year.

Herbert stood a good chance of being the first quarterback off the board, but things are in flux now that he is off the board. Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins received a first round grade from the NFL’s draft advisory board, per Chris Mortensen, but has not announced if he will turn pro. If he does, he would be in the mix to be the first quarterback off the board. He will be competing with Drew Lock (Missouri), Will Grier (West Virginia), and potentially Daniel Jones (Duke) if he turns pro.

This is of some note to the top of the draft board. The top five teams right now (Cardinals, 49ers, Jets, Raiders, Lions) are not expected to be looking at the QB position. The Buccaneers (currently 6th) Giants (8th), Jaguars (9th), Dolphins (15th), and Washington (16th) are all teams in top half of the draft that might be interested in a quarterback.

With one less quarterback, one has to wonder if a team gets a little extra desperate to move up knowing there is not one more potential franchise quarterback to land later in the first round.