NFL scouts are already circling Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker, and the Baltimore Ravens have been one of the first teams to make a point of digging in.
Cowboys coach Eric Morris said on his weekly radio show Thursday that a Ravens scout came through campus earlier this week and had plenty of questions about Mestemaker. Morris said scouts are paying close attention to the redshirt sophomore’s background, and it’s not hard to see why.
Mestemaker’s rise is the kind of story that gets attention in NFL draft rooms. A player who never played varsity football as a quarterback is now the FBS passing yardage leader just two years into his college career.
He’s entering his third year of college football, which makes him eligible for the NFL draft next April. At the same time, he still has three years of eligibility left, so he doesn’t have to leave.
And he’d be doing so in a draft that already looks crowded at quarterback, with Oregon’s Dante Moore, Notre Dame’s C.J. Carr and Texas’ Arch Manning all part of the conversation.
For scouts, this is the start of the process, not the finish line. They’re on campuses now, talking to coaches and players, sitting in press boxes and gathering notes.
The real decisions won’t come until just before the draft, but the groundwork begins long before that. And in the NFL, the story matters right alongside the arm.
Baltimore makes sense as an early team to watch. The Ravens are tied to two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, at least for now, but the contract has a possible escape hatch after this season. The 2028 and 2029 years void automatically after the 2027 season.
Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million deal in 2023. Baltimore could keep him beyond that, but it would likely cost more than the current contract.
The Ravens’ backups are Joe Fagnano and Tyler Huntley, and there’s no obvious succession plan if Jackson and the team split. By the time the deal voids in 2027, Jackson will be 30 and would have a market in free agency.
That’s why a quarterback like Mestemaker is worth a serious look. If he decides to leave school after this season, he would offer a much cheaper path early in his career, and he could wind up in a much better situation than many players do.
For now, Morris is hoping his quarterback stays put a while longer.
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