Mel Kiper Jr.’s first mock draft is hot off the presses at ESPN, and it features an interesting prediction regarding [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag].
The LSU quarterback and 2023 Heisman winner has seen a meteoric rise in his draft stock, and with the 2024 NFL draft just a couple of months away, Kiper is even higher on Daniels than most.
While many have Caleb Williams and Drake Maye as the top-two picks in the draft, Kiper has Daniels as his QB2. He predicts he will go second overall to the Washington Commanders after the Bears take Williams first.
Kiper went on to explain why Daniels has passed Maye on his board.
The Commanders have a much more straightforward decision than the Bears. Sam Howell, who led the league in interceptions in 2023, is not the guy. They have to take a quarterback in a draft that has a clear top tier of three signal-callers: Williams, Daniels and Drake Maye (North Carolina). There’s a drop-off in the class after that. With Washington getting an opportunity to take the No. 2 quarterback here, why did I go with Daniels?
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner improved so much in 2023, throwing 40 touchdown passes to just four interceptions while going up against a tough SEC schedule. In December, I went deep on his strengths, weaknesses and future, so you can see my full thoughts on his game there. The bottom line is it’s tight between Daniels and Maye on my board, but Daniels would be an tremendous fit for a Washington roster that has some young playmakers on offense. Maye’s inconsistency at the end of the season is enough for me to put Daniels at No. 2. The reality, though, is the Commanders just hired their new general manager and still don’t have a coach, so there’s a lot to figure out about which direction they go.
Daniels isn’t the only LSU player Kiper has going in the first round. Just four picks later, he has the Giants taking [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] at No. 6.
The Giants got just six games out of quarterback Daniel Jones on the way to a lost season that showed some cracks in the foundation. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale resigned after the season, and the offense under coordinator Mike Kafka struggled with Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito under center. New York’s quarterbacks were sacked a whopping 85 times, the most in the league, and the offense ranked 30th in yards per play (4.5). The Giants used top-10 picks on offensive linemen in 2020 (Andrew Thomas) and 2022 (Evan Neal), but I absolutely could see them doing it again, as tackles Joe Alt (Notre Dame) and Olu Fashanu (Penn State) are still available in this scenario.
Still, I keep coming back to getting Jones more help, as he has never played with a true No. 1 wide receiver. Nabers could be that. He’s coming off an 89-catch, 1,569-yard season catching passes from Jayden Daniels, and he has a rare combination of speed and route-running ability. He led the FBS with 17 catches of 30-plus yards. The Giants had just 15 total 30-plus yard receptions last season, five of which were from rookie third-rounder Jalin Hyatt.
Meanwhile, fellow wideout [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] has also seen his stock rise tremendously. Seen as a fringe first-round pick as recently as the end of the season, Thomas is now a frequent resident in the top 15 of mock drafts.
Kiper is no different, and he predicts that Thomas will stay close to home, going to the Saints with the 14th pick.
Derek Carr had an up-and-down debut season in New Orleans, and his sizable contract almost certainly means he’ll be back as the starter in 2024. But what do we know about the playmakers around him? Chris Olave is a star who has put up back-to-back seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. After that? There are big questions. Michael Thomas likely will move on this offseason, while Alvin Kamara has regressed in recent years. And while Rashid Shaheed showed he can be a useful complementary receiver, Carr could use another asset in the receiving game to try to boost this offense.
Thomas, the third of the LSU offensive players off the board in this projection, led the FBS with 17 touchdown catches last season while averaging 17.3 yards per reception. He had just three drops on 93 targets. He can take the top off defenses and be a stellar No. 2 option as a rookie. Plus, the born-and-raised Louisiana kid wouldn’t have to leave the state.
It’s set to be an eventful first round of the draft for former LSU players. The only question is exactly where this trio will land.
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