Carson Beck walked into Lucas Oil Stadium for his throwing session at the 2026 NFL Combine and got booed. The crowd was still smarting over Miami’s CFP championship loss to Indiana a few weeks earlier. That moment, more than anything, might tell you everything you need to know about where his draft stock is right now. But as those fans were giving him grief in the stands, league scouts were telling ESPN’s Jordan Reid something very different.

“We don’t need a QB, but he’s the favorite to be QB3 off the board if we needed to take one,” the NFC director of college scouting told ESPN’s Jordan Reid at the NFL Combine. Currently, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is a consensus QB1 in various mock drafts, and Bama’s Ty Simpson trails at no. 2. The third spot was truly up for grabs, and Garrett Nussmeier earlier took it after a solid Senior Bowl performance.

Nussmeier ended the 2025 season with 1,927 yards in the initial 9 games but was shut down due to a serious injury. Later reports emerged that Nussmeier played through the injury most of the season, which he suffered on Day 2 of the fall camp. Despite that, the former LSU QB1 shone at the Senior Bowl. He started for the American Team and earned MVP honors, connecting 5 of his 8 passes for 57 yards.

The 6’3″ and 229-pound QB also rushed for a touchdown and even threw a two-point conversion to WR Malachi Fields. That performance elevated the QB’s draft stock, and many analysts put him as QB3. USA Today predicts that Nussmeier will go 44th overall to the New York Jets. Whereas ESPN’s Jordan Reid said that he “checked many boxes during Senior Bowl week.”

For a moment, it looked like the QB3 question was answered.

The Combine is where things shifted again. CBS Sports gave Beck a B+ for his throwing session. They noted that he “started his throwing session strong, showing quality accuracy and timing on out routes” and threw “the comeback and hinge routes well.” Deep balls were inconsistent, but the evaluation as a whole was solid enough that CBS placed him “in the conversation to be the second or third quarterback off the board, which likely translates to a Day 2 selection.”​

And now, since the NFC scout has touted Beck to QB3, the aftereffects of Nussmeier’s Senior Bowl performances seem to be fading. Carson Beck has the eighth-highest (74.8%) adjusted completion rate in 2025 amongst all FBS QBs. Moreover, Beck’s ability to clinically dissect defenses is prized by many NFL teams. He also met with the Dolphins reps at the Combine and wowed interviewers with an unseen maturity. All of it might just land Beck on one of his dream teams.

Carson Beck urges an NFL head coach to fulfill his dream scenario

Before coming to Miami, Beck was Georgia’s homegrown talent. He came in as a starter in 2023 and torched defenses, passing for 3,941 yards at an impressive 72.4% accuracy. Although his performances dipped somewhat in the 2024 season and his accuracy hovered at 64.7%, Beck’s development at Georgia came in handy at Miami. And the man who played a central role in Beck’s growth at UGA is now the Cleveland Browns’ head coach.

“If Coach Monken were to be my coach again…I’d be super stoked,” Carson Beck said about playing for Browns’ head coach Todd Monken. “I’ve actually known him since I was seven or eight years old. I played baseball with his son (Travis) whenever (Monken) was the wide receiver coach of the Jaguars. So that’s cool. I’ve been able to have a really good relationship with him over the years.”

Carson Beck came to Georgia as a freshman in 2020, the same year Todd Monken arrived as the team’s offensive coordinator. Although he left in January 2023, before Beck’s breakthrough season, the 60-year-old’s concepts came in handy in dissecting defenses. Moreover, since Beck has a childhood relationship with Monken’s family, it won’t be tough for Monken to coach him again. Will Monken take Beck?

The Browns currently have a 6th overall pick, followed by a 24th pick in the first round. The team won’t take Beck in the first round; however, they can easily take him as the 70th overall pick in the third round. Or if Beck gains traction, Monken can even use the 39th pick in the second round to reunite with his former QB.