The NFL Draft is almost here! Among all the excitement over the future NFL stars, there is one position that relatively gets more eyeballs than every other position on the field. Yes, we are talking about the quarterbacks. The 2025 QB may not be as talented as their counterparts last year, but we still have some exciting names who led their respective teams during the 2024 season. There’s Cam Ward, the potential No. 1 pick. We also have Shedeur Sanders in the top tier. However, there’s a degree of uncertainty after that. Who’s the third-best QB? Some experts point to Lane Kiffin’s star and Ole Miss’ QB1, Jaxson Dart. What’s the buzz around his draft position?

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky already had him in the elite box, while his latest take only solidified Dart’s fate. Field Yates from ESPN sees Dart as a potential No.21 pick going to the Steelers, a QB-desperate team in the league. While it looks like A-Rod is heading Mike Tomlin’s way, it would make sense for the Steelers to have a young QB behind the veteran.

Christian D’Andrea, however, sees Dart at No. 31 with a trade involved. He sees the Giants as his future NFL home. Can that be a possibility? Well, given how the Giants are now looking to draft Travis Hunter before picking a quarterback (if Hunter falls to No. 3), a late-round QB pick doesn’t seem like that wild an idea. The chatter around Dart has been that he is going to be either a second-rounder or a third-round pick. However, one NFL analyst doesn’t agree with that prevalent opinion. Just three weeks before the draft, Dan Orlovsky unleashed a bombshell through his latest tweet.

Replying to a tweet that said, “Source: Alabama QB Jalen Milroe has accepted an invitation to attend the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay,” Orlovsky predicted that Bama’s QB1 in 2024 will be drafted ‘higher than expected.’ He could’ve stopped there, given the OP only mentioned Milroe. Orlovsky also included Dart’s name there. A quarterback who’ll go higher than draft analysts are predicting.

Now, what could that ‘higher than expected’ spot imply? A projected first round with a higher spot on the list? Possibly, yes. While it doesn’t look like elusive for a guy to jump to the first round, who broke Eli Manning’s lofty school record of all-time passing leader. But everything, for now, looks like a smoke screen. We will have to wait for more developments to come to be sure of the draft spots. But Jaxson Dart looks like a real shot in this year’s pro-quarterbacks’ class.

But his offensive alignment in the Rebels’ offense might turn out to be both a challenge and an advantage in the pro QB room.

Jaxson Dart receives a vote of confidence from Lane Kiffin

Head coach Lane Kiffin holds his crown jewel in pretty high regard while addressing his progress during the Rebels’ pro day last week. Irrespective of the numbers Dart put in his resume, Kiffin thinks his intangibles were the biggest asset in the locker room. It’s his mere presence that boosted the team to perform their best. In his final campaign at Oxford, Dart mounted a total of 4,800 yards and 32 touchdowns.

NFL and college football aren’t the same. It highly differs in terminology and verbiage. But no matter what kind of a heck of a task it is to adapt to the pro setup, Kiffin believes Dart can slide into that pretty well. “But he still has a lot of the concepts, a lot of the knowledge for it. And he can adapt to anything, so he’ll be awesome,” the Rebels’ head coach showcased unwavering confidence in his QB 1 ahead of his much-awaited NFL transition.

But ESPN journalist Jordan Reid takes it with a pinch of salt, highlighting the shadow part of Kiffin’s offense that might throw some bumps in Dart’s pro transformation. “Lane Kiffin’s offense is very open and very quarterback friendly as well. Now, on the opposite side of that progression-based reads is something that he wasn’t asked to do consistently in Lane Kiffin’s offense. 34% of his passes were labeled as wide open a season ago, and he only had eight snaps from under center, so being in a more pro-oriented offense will be a bit of an adjustment period for Jaxson Dart.”

Hopefully, Dart will be able to skip to the good part of it and have a seamless journey ahead of his NFL career. With which team? That remains the most enthralling mystery, nevertheless.