NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah Talks Cowboys, Rams & Dolphins’ Draft Options

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah used his stop on The Rich Eisen Show to defend three of his more contrarian first-round calls, and the through-line was that the league keeps undervaluing the same kind of defensive back even after watching it work every season.

On Caleb Downs, who Jeremiah had falling to the Cowboys at 12, he refused to accept the take-it-to-the-bank top-10 framing. "I've called every single one of Derwin James's games in the NFL, and if that freak of nature didn't go in the top 10, all bets are off," Jeremiah said, adding that Kyle Hamilton also slid, that Iman Marshall fell to the second round, and that Brian Branch and Cooper DeJean kept telling the same story year after year. Rich pushed him on why, if Downs is the kind of player teams build defenses around, the slot keeps getting punished. Jeremiah's answer was structural. "They don't view it as a premium position," he said, while pointing out that every great defense has a stud at big nickel. "Every great defense has a stud in that spot right there."

The Rams pick was the one that drew the loudest reaction. Jeremiah had Los Angeles taking offensive lineman McKay Lemon at 13 and pointedly not taking Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, even though chatter around the building was real. He read Rich a friend-in-the-league text he had been chewing on. "When was the last time the sitting MVP's team took a quarterback when he just walked off the field as the MVP of the National Football League?" Jeremiah relayed, before landing the case against it himself. "You could say you were one play away from going to the Super Bowl last year. The Super Bowl is in your building this year. You have an MVP at the position. That's a lot to digest."

For Miami, Jeremiah went Reuban Bain at 11 over a wide receiver, leaning on the Dolphins' seven top-100 picks and what he called a deep receiver class with Green Bay-style depth available later. He also walked Rich through an Eagles trade-up for Caden Proctor as long-term Lane Johnson insurance, citing Howie Roseman's habit of drafting a year ahead of need, the way Jihad Campbell was taken before Nakobe Dean's exit.

The lighter moment was the Vikings passing on Dylan Fairchild. Jeremiah admitted he had moved Fairchild to Carolina out of pure mock-draft fatigue. "There's no way we can all be right the whole time," he said. "So I punished him a whopping one spot."