If Daniel Jeremiah was making the final call on draft night, the New England Patriots would select a quarterback third overall.
It likely will be Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels who are available with that pick. Those two signal-callers figure to go after USC product Caleb Williams, who Jeremiah believes is worthy of the top selection. Regardless of whether it’s Maye or Daniels, though, Jeremiah is selecting whoever is left.
“I think, obviously they’ll do their homework on all the different options there, but to me it would be tough to pass on a quarterback,” the NFL draft expert said Thursday during his annual conference call with reporters.
“You’re not guaranteed to be up here again. There’s no guarantee of what future years, what it looks like at the position. I think you’ve got three guys that are worthy of consideration there.”
Jeremiah previously said he would be “stunned” if the Patriots didn’t go with a quarterback.
Jeremiah believes next year’s quarterback class is not as strong as this year. Other analysts have agreed. Jeremiah even floated the idea that four quarterbacks could be selected with the first five picks and said the “expectation” around the league is the top three quarterbacks will go first, second and third. Whether the Patriots are included in that run of quarterbacks, Jeremiah said, isn’t yet known.
“I love Marvin Harrison Jr. I love him. He is a great player,” Jeremiah said of the Ohio State receiver, who was listed No. 2 in Jeremiah’s top 50 prospects. “But it would be hard with where they’re positioned, with where they’re set up right now at that position, to pass on a quarterback.”
Jeremiah had the Patriots taking Harrison at No. 3 overall in his “Mock Draft 2.0” published Tuesday. In his first mock draft published Jan. 19, Jeremiah had New England grabbing Daniels with Williams and Maye already off the board.
Mock drafts, however, don’t always go hand in hand with what Jeremiah believes he would do. He reflected on New England’s 2023 campaign when he expressed his reasoning.
“Just being in that stadium last year, I didn’t recognize it,” Jeremiah said. “Obviously, the team wasn’t good. But there had been so much energy and juice in that building every other time I’ve been in there, and it was just so flat. And it wasn’t just a bad team, it was a boring team.
“There’s just no juice, no excitement whatsoever. And I look at whichever one’s there, if it’s any of those top three quarterbacks, those guys would bring so much energy and life to your franchise. It just feels right. You’ve got new leadership in place, it’s kind of this whole new chapter for the New England Patriots.”
Patriots fans will see if the organization agrees with Jeremiah on April 25.
