NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah Talks Final NFL Mock Draft with Rich

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah walked Rich through his final 4.0 mock draft on The Rich Eisen Show, sketching out a first round defined by trade-back rumors, positional bias, and one Cardinals decision that could send the entire board sideways.

Jeremiah opened with Fernando Mendoza, Bailey, Reese, and Jeremiah Love at the top, but then pulled the lever on a trade at three. "The Cardinals having a decision whether you want to take Love or whether you want to trade back," Jeremiah said, naming the Saints as the logical partner. "You look at the Saints history and how aggressive they've been under Mickey Loomis. They've done it three times where they've traded a future one. So it's kind of in their DNA."

On the Jets at two taking David Bailey over Reese, Jeremiah leaned into Bailey's resume. "With David Bailey, I've seen him line up, put his hand on the ground, and I've seen him get after the quarterback in a variety of ways. He's got a lot of talent." He pushed back on the Power Five bias still dragging Bailey down. "We're in a new world of college football, Rich, where you've got a player from Ohio State and you've got a player from Texas Tech. And your whole life you've been taught that one is not the other. And that era is over."

The segment's most candid stretch came on Caleb Downs, the Ohio State safety Jeremiah has at top-ten value who keeps slipping in mocks. "There's been pushback when you suggest that Caleb Downs doesn't go in the top 10. And my reply is, 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 ran the list, Brian Branch, Cooper DeJean, Kyle Hamilton, every premium safety the league has undervalued. "I just think they don't view it as a premium position. But I look at every great defense in the NFL."

On Ty Simpson to the Rams at 13, Jeremiah surfaced the question a friend in the league texted him. "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?" Rich landed on the answer eventually: the 2010 Patriots took Ryan Mallett 74th overall after Tom Brady's MVP year. The 13th pick is a different conversation.

Jeremiah closed on the chaos teams, Chiefs at nine, Rams sitting on found money. "If somebody, if we see Reese or Love or one of these guys that we think's a marquee player, start to trickle down, my Spidey senses are going to go up. Those two teams I'd keep an eye on."