Cole Payton connects with Carson Wentz, extends NDSU quarterback pipeline

Cole Payton’s road to the Philadelphia Eagles carried more than draft value. It also added a new chapter to North Dakota State’s quarterback pipeline, one that still runs through Carson Wentz, the No. 2 overall pick in 2016 and the most visible proof that a Bison passer can jump from Fargo to the NFL spotlight.

Philadelphia took Payton with the 178th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, a fifth-round swing on a quarterback who gave NDSU a full season of production in 2025. Payton started all 13 games and helped the Bison finish 12-1 while throwing for 2,719 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. He added 777 rushing yards and 13 more scores, the kind of dual-threat profile that keeps NFL teams interested in a developmental passer even when the headline starts with a familiar school connection.

That connection mattered because Payton and Wentz share the same agent and trained at the same facility in Southern California. Payton also told Philadelphia reporters that he and Wentz came from the same program, a tie that gives the story real depth beyond nostalgia. Wentz is still the benchmark for what an NDSU quarterback can become, and Payton now enters the Eagles organization with that standard in the background. He is not just another draft pick from a successful FCS school. He is being measured against a lineage that has already produced NFL starters and first-round expectations.

The line of recent NDSU quarterbacks makes that pressure and that opportunity impossible to miss. Payton became the fifth North Dakota State quarterback drafted since 2016, joining Wentz, Easton Stick, Trey Lance and Cam Miller. Brock Jensen helped launch the modern era in Fargo, Wentz took it national, and Payton now becomes the latest test case for whether NDSU’s quarterback development is a system or a streak. The 2026 draft only reinforced the point, with wide receiver Bryce Lance going one round earlier to the New Orleans Saints.

North Dakota State’s larger record gives the pipeline even more weight. The Bison have won 10 FCS national championships in 14 seasons, including the first five straight titles at the FCS level from 2011 through 2015. With that kind of dominance behind it, the program does more than win in December. It keeps sending quarterbacks into the league with the expectation that they can handle faster decisions, bigger stages and a much harsher standard. Payton’s draft slot says he still has work ahead, but his NDSU tie to Wentz shows why the Bison brand remains one of the strongest in FCS football.