2027 NFL Draft: Stock up, stock down after Week 3 of college football

• Trinidad Chambliss delivers against LSU: The Ole Miss quarterback earned an 89.9 PFF grade and threw for 363 yards in his highest-graded SEC game.

• Will Echoles strengthens his draft case: The Ole Miss defensive tackle posted a 90.8 PFF grade and a career-best 18.8% pressure rate against LSU.

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You can really feel the college football season starting to heat up as we approach October. The “meaningless” layup matchups are becoming less common, and we’re seeing quality players square off throughout Saturdays from here until the end of the season.

For some players, they are now three weeks into what could be their final college season and still haven't truly gotten going. This article highlights several players whose draft stock could continue to trend downward if they can’t turn things around over the remainder of the season.

In Week 3, Ole Miss rightfully stole the headlines in what was surely one of the most-watched September college football games in recent history. It should come as no surprise that the first player whose draft stock received a healthy bump Saturday is the Rebels’ superstar quarterback.

Stock Up: QB Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss

In one of the highest-stakes games of his career, Trinidad Chambliss showed up in a major way to fend off former coach Lane Kiffin’s LSU Tigers. Chambliss added another chapter to his fairytale story and is sure to be remembered as an Ole Miss legend regardless of how the remainder of 2026 plays out.

This was Chambliss’ highest-graded game in SEC play, as he earned an 89.9 overall PFF grade. He wasn’t flawless — Chambliss threw an interception, took two additional sacks and finished with a passer rating below 100.0 — but the high points vastly outweighed the lows.

Chambliss threw for 363 yards while showing off his ability to make every throw that could be asked of a starting NFL quarterback. That included a mesmerizing underhand flip on a play that looked utterly dead. Even before that highlight, Chambliss had already given viewers plenty of reasons to believe he could be the next big thing.

It is somewhat ironic that no matter how well Chambliss performs, his biggest criticisms are unavoidable. He’s under 6 feet tall, and he’ll be 26 years old as a rookie. No amount of Heisman moments will change those facts. However, performances such as this give Chambliss every right to be included in the conversation about the best quarterbacks in college football right now. His journey to draft day will be fascinating to watch.

Stock Down: T PJ Williams, SMU

We highlighted the blockbuster matchup between SMU’s premier pass protector, PJ Williams, and Louisville pass-rushing ace Clev Lubin in our Week 3 preview. There was only one winner.

Williams, ranked 53rd on PFF’s 2027 big board, got absolutely worked by Lubin, who ranks 47th and is liable to rise even further on the back of performances like this. Williams allowed five pressures in the game, resulting in a 33.1 overall PFF grade — the lowest of any Power Four offensive lineman this week.

Lubin was responsible for four of those five pressures, the last of which resulted in a game-sealing sack that sent the AP’s 16th-ranked team in college football tumbling down the rankings.

Williams allowed just 16 pressures all of last season and no more than three in a single game, so getting beaten on five separate occasions in his first taste of NFL-caliber competition since moving to left tackle was quite a shock to the system. Lubin won with bull rushes and swim moves, attacking both inside and outside. Anything he tried seemed to put Williams in a blender.

Stock Up: T Jesse Perry, Tennessee

Perry will face much stiffer competition as the season goes on than he did against Kennesaw State this past weekend, but we got a real glimpse of what makes him so vicious in the run game. Perry finished with a 92.6 overall PFF grade, the highest grade awarded to any FBS offensive lineman this weekend.

Entering the season, he was mostly viewed as a high-floor pass-protecting guard or tackle. His 59.9 PFF run-blocking grade last season lagged behind his 75.1 PFF grade on passing downs, but Saturday offered a brilliant showcase of what he can provide in the ground game.

Tennessee’s offense cruised to victory with 235 designed rushing yards, 147 of which came on runs toward Perry’s side of the offensive line. The big right tackle was mauling everyone in sight and didn’t post a single negatively graded play all day.

Stock Down: WR Cooper Barkate, Miami

The former Harvard and Duke standout generated plenty of offseason hype after following quarterback Darian Mensah to Coral Gables, but Barkate has yet to truly get going for a Miami offense that is otherwise humming without him.

Barkate was never going to be the top target in an offense that boasts Malachi Toney. We knew that. But considering the Hurricanes have already accumulated more than 1,000 passing yards, you’d figure there would be plenty of targets to go around.

Instead, Toney has accumulated more than 450 yards from scrimmage, while Barkate hasn’t even reached triple digits. Even WR3 Joshua Moore has outgained Barkate while playing roughly two-thirds as many snaps.

Barkate has just six receptions for 29 yards over the past two weeks, averaging 0.66 yards per route run, and has yet to force a missed tackle. It’s still very early in the season for the super senior, but one would have thought his prior chemistry with Mensah would lead to a smooth transition and immediate impact at Miami.

Stock Up: DI Will Echoles, Ole Miss

Anyone who watched Saturday night’s game got a great feel for just how disruptive Will Echoles can be from the defensive interior. Echoles started the season ranked just inside the top 32 on the PFF draft board, but more performances like this could push him firmly into the top-10 conversation.

Against one of college football’s highest-pedigree offensive lines, Echoles recorded a 90.8 overall PFF grade. Like Jesse Perry, mentioned earlier, Echoles answered some questions in what was viewed as the weaker area of his game — pass rushing.

There was never much doubt that the 315-pounder was a top-quality run defender. His 83.3 PFF run-defense grade from last season reflected that. However, his 65.3 PFF pass-rushing grade and 5.7% pressure rate were much less impressive.

On Saturday, Echoles pressured LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt six times, including a pivotal sack at the start of the second quarter. Echoles’ 18.8% pressure rate was also a career-best mark. He had already started the season strongly before this performance, and in an otherwise underwhelming year for interior defenders, his draft stock continues to rise.

Stock Down: LB Sammy Brown, Clemson

Some consider Brown to be the top off-ball linebacker available in the 2027 draft, but his Week 3 matchup against North Carolina did little to help his reputation.

The vibes at Clemson are very low, as the team hasn’t shown much of anything convincing in its two victories following the season-opening loss to LSU. Brown actually graded out well enough in those first two games, but his 49.7 overall PFF grade Saturday was his second-lowest as a starter in Dabo Swinney’s defense.

Four missed tackles in the run game highlighted Brown’s struggles. That was incredibly uncharacteristic for a player who didn’t miss a single tackle on a rushing play last season.

Brown still flashed somewhat as a blitzer, registering a pair of pressures, but he wasn’t impactful in coverage and contributed to Clemson’s struggles against a North Carolina rushing attack that amassed 214 yards on the ground.

Stock Up: CB John Nestor, Minnesota

Nestor was among the top 100 players on PFF’s 2027 big board entering the season, and his stock will only rise with performances like this. Granted, Nestor was only facing Akron this weekend, but it was arguably the best game of his career.

Nestor finished with an 88.1 overall PFF grade. Top cornerback prospects can often go virtually unnoticed for games at a time because opponents simply keep the ball away from them. Akron, however, had no fear going after Nestor in coverage, and he answered every challenge.

The Chicago native was targeted nine times in coverage, allowing five receptions for a grand total of 11 yards. Nestor blew up multiple screen passes behind the line of scrimmage and broke up two additional passes downfield.

He didn’t come away with an interception, but Nestor showcased the high-level instincts that NFL evaluators will love. Getting off to a strong start in nonconference play is particularly valuable for a cornerback looking to build his case as one of the top prospects at the position.