NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah held a conference call for the media on Friday in advance of next week’s NFL scouting combine. Jeremiah covered a broad swath of questions and concepts in the free-ranging call, which lasted well over 90 minutes.
Here are the three most pertinent takeaways I got from listening in on Jeremiah’s call in regards to the Detroit Lions and their draft situation.
Anthony Richardson might not make it to No. 6 overall, let alone No. 18
“I guess I can answer it this way; he’s not going to be there when it’s all said and done and the Lions pick with their second pick,” Jeremiah said of the prospect of Richardson at 18. He then threw some cold water on Lions fans who might want Richardson with the team’s first pick at No. 6 overall.
“Making calls just around the league, the best way to do the quarterback conversation is to talk to the teams who don’t need one and you’ll get kind of an accurate feel, just how they evaluate them and what they think,” Jeremiah said. “Anthony Richardson is the second quarterback (on the draft board) for several teams that I talked to.”
No word on if the Lions are one of those teams. But they could be, and Jeremiah indicated why,
“If you want to fall in love with Anthony Richardson, you pop on Utah and you think he’s the first pick in the draft. Even Missouri, (Richardson) makes some big-time plays in that game. I know it’s a little bit of a rollercoaster; I know he hasn’t played a ton, but teams are starting to look at some of these quarterbacks as lottery tickets and this one has the biggest payout. That’s why I think you’ll see Richardson go pretty high.”
Tyree Wilson could go higher than you think
Jeremiah was asked by a Cardinals reporter about that team’s options with the No. 3 overall pick. In his last mock draft, “DJ” projected Texas Tech EDGE Tyree Wilson to Arizona at that lofty pick. He selected Wilson over Alabama EDGE Will Anderson, who has been the consensus top pass rushing prospect in this class for months.
Jeremiah doubled down on that potential while giving his response.
“For me, Tyree Wilson by a significant margin (for the No. 2 EDGE behind Anderson),” he said. “There’s a lot of buzz around him around the league. The league has him and Anderson a lot closer than people might think. He’s got freakish wingspan and burst.”
Wilson is not typically regarded in that range by most contemporary mock drafts. But Wilson’s extreme length, strength and high-end potential reminds Jeremiah of how Travon Walker wowed certain NFL teams and ascended to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
The tight end class is loaded
Relax. The Lions are not expected to select a tight end early in the draft, not by anyone close to the team anyway. But an argument can be made that the Lions will have interest in selecting a tight end at some point later in the draft.
Jeremiah believes there will be a strong class of tight ends to choose from, even into the third day of the draft.
Stating that the tight end class “is as good as I’ve seen in the last 10 years,” Jeremiah rattled off several prospects who could tempt the Lions after the first couple of rounds.
“In terms of the number of guys, I have 11 tight ends that I have top-three round grades on, which is a ridiculous number,” Jeremiah said. “It is just a really, really good group.”
Among the names Jeremiah mentioned as later options that could intrigue teams, including the Lions,
Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave, a player the Lions met with at the Senior Bowl
Iowa’s Sam LaPorta
South Dakota State’s Tucker Kraft
Clemson’s Davis Allen, another player the Lions have met with already
