Drew Allar 2026 Prospect Profile

Is Penn State's star QB worth the top pick in the 2026 draft?

Welcome back to my ongoing 2026 QB prospect profiles, where today we are looking at Penn State Nittany Lion, Drew Allar. I enjoyed watching his tape (except revisiting the SMU game, PTSD from being there in person), but was left with a few questions about his ability to translate to the NFL.

Background

Allar, born in Medina, Ohio, was a three-sport athlete in high school who played football, basketball, and baseball. This led to him being somewhat overlooked in his early high school years as a recruit, who, at the time of his commitment to Penn State in 2021, was only a 3-star recruit. However, after starting to focus on his work on the football field in his junior year, he finished high school with a flourish and ended up a five-star recruit—the number 28 overall recruit in the country, and the third-ranked QB in the class of 2022. He began his time as Penn State’s starter in his true sophomore year, and has helped a strong Penn State team go from strength to strength, narrowly missing out on the chance to play for a National Championship this year.

Physical Attributes

Allar has prototypical QB size. He measures out to be a solid 6’5” tall and weighs 236 lbs. A true senior, Allar will turn 22 right after next year’s NFL scouting combine. He has a very strong arm, capable of attacking nearly every blade of grass on the field on any given play. His running looks a bit odd and gangly, but the results are pretty impressive. He never seems to be moving that fast, but like Pat Mahomes, he never seems to have anyone catch him. This also translates to great sack avoidance, with movement within and around the pocket limiting big plays. However, once on the move, he gets very inaccurate with his passing. Balls consistently miss the spot and come up short or wide.

Data and Tape Analysis

If you are unfamiliar with my QB radar charts, you can find more information here.

Allar has one of the better radar charts of all draft-eligible 2026 quarterbacks. I already highlighted his great sack avoidance in the last section, and when you add to that his incredibly low turnover-worthy play rate, his superpower is negative play avoidance. The only game on his tape where I remember him being out of sorts with bad plays was his USC game, where he threw three of his five regular-season interceptions.

It is also apparent how much command he has over his offense. Andy Kotelnicki had Penn State running one of the most involved offenses in college football last year, with all kinds of weird formations and fakes that were often executed quite well. Allar could handle all that and the more normal running of their West Coast-like offense. The radar chart above shows that with a lower average depth of target. Offenses like that require precision, and Allar had that with his high completion percentage and accuracy percentage. He goes through his reads a 1/4 beat slower than you would hope.

The timing of the offense was one of Allar’s great strengths. The base he throws off of allows him to get tons of torque into his throwing motion, giving his throws real zip. He is genuinely one of those guys who can throw the ball over the mountains over there. Seriously, look at any of his deep balls; most QBs throwing the same distance get maybe half the height on those throws that he does. True moonshot-type throws. For whatever reason, with all that arm strength and his accuracy over the rest of the field, he almost always comes up a yard or two short on his deep balls. Recievers have to slow down, and it limits their big play ability by giving chasing DBs a chance to make a play.

Going back to his base, his throws look worse whenever he is off base. He does not quite have that more inventive trait yet, which does worry me. All of the NFL's top QBs can create when plays are out of structure, and for now, Allar does not have it. In addition, his propensity to drift in the pocket when not needed is one of the most significant flaws in his game. That is not to say that Allar has bad pocket awareness, as I have said before, his sack avoidance is some of the best you will find out of college.

Grade and Outlook

Allar has many fans in this year’s upcoming draft, and I am in that club. He projects as a more point-and-shoot quarterback with just enough running ability to keep a defense honest. I am hoping he gets better throwing off base and on the move because it can be a killer for a top pick not to have that ability. By nature, top picks typically go to teams with bad offensive lines. He makes incredible decisions constantly, has a great handle on his offense, and avoids catastrophic plays like the plague, a recipe for success. With his development arc moving into his third year of starting at Penn State, it is not crazy to imagine Allar ending up as the QB1 in the draft.

Grade: 6.8 / 10 (Early 1st)