“They Nailed It” - FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt Praises Giants’ & Jets’ NFL Draft

Joel Klatt usually shows up on The Rich Eisen Show with a complaint about the New York Giants. Not this year. The FOX Sports college football analyst flipped his annual script and called the Giants' and Jets' opening night of the NFL Draft one of the cleanest two-team hauls of the first round, anchored by ceiling picks at premium positions and value where the board fell their way.

Klatt led with the Giants. "Hey, New York Football Giants, I thought you nailed it on night one," Klatt said. He praised the Ar'vell Reese selection at five for John Harbaugh as a Micah Parsons-mold edge bet that the Ravens defensive coordinator is built to deploy. "John's going to be creative with him. They're going to invent the position where he can be impactful," Klatt said, adding that most evaluators did not expect Reese to be on the board at five. The Giants then landed Mauwi Noa, a player Klatt and many others had ranked as the top tackle in the class. "Mauwi Noa is widely considered the best offensive lineman in this draft," Klatt said, noting Noa can kick inside to guard and play at an exceptional level there or stay outside.

The Jets earned similar marks for a different reason. Klatt argued the roster needed talent and speed across the board, and the front office addressed both. David Bailey, he said, gives the defense "immediate juice" and a pass rush that should generate takeaways. He called Kanyon Sadeeq the prototypical modern tight end, citing combine athleticism that outpaced names Rich had run through earlier in the show. He singled out Omar Cooper Jr. as a resilient first-round receiver who started at Indiana before head coach Curt Cignetti arrived. "A lot of people think that Curt Cignetti did this with just transfer players, but he inherited Omar Cooper, who worked himself into a first round player," Klatt said.

On Cignetti, Klatt was emphatic that the Indiana program is not a one-year story. He praised the coach's recent quip about transfer quarterback Josh Hoover meeting his two new best friends, a defense and a running game, and predicted Cignetti has already become "one of the two or three best coaches in college football."

Klatt also reframed the broader college landscape. "College football's never been better," he said, pointing to a Big Ten haul of ten first-round picks, the first time in roughly a decade a conference other than the SEC topped that list. He closed with the line he debuted on the FOX broadcast about NIL economics and rookie contracts. "We're entering that portion of the draft where every player that gets their name selected is taking a pay cut," Klatt said.