We are just one week away from all the shenanigans and hoopla that is the NFL draft. The 2022 version looks to be a wide receiver heavy one, and that fits neatly into a window of viewing and interest for Ohio State fans since the Buckeyes expect to have two first-round receivers taken in Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.
One guy that knows a thing or two (or three) about breaking down players in the NFL draft is the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. He was made available for a media call this week to dish on the upcoming draft and was asked bout the silky smooth Olave, what he sees from him, and where he thinks he might land in the draft.
Jeremiah was asked what makes Olave a top ten pick and had some glowing remarks for the Buckeye speedster.
“Yeah, he’s a fun player to study,” Jeremiah said. “I think the reason why you see him married with so many different teams in all these mock drafts is that he fits. He’s a silky smooth route runner who can do so many different things. He tracks the ball really, really well. He’s incredibly smart. Their coaches down there rave about him. They love him. He just needs to get a little bit stronger. That’s kind of the one knock on Chris. But he’s been doing it since he got there, whether it was blocking a punt against Michigan as a freshman.
“He’s always found a way to make plays. Everybody is kind of wide receiver obsessed this off-season, I think, so you can make a strong case with some of the movement that we’ve had that a lot of these teams are in the wide out market, whether they’re trying to support a young quarterback or replace somebody who left. There’s a lot of teams in the wide out market, so that’s why you’re seeing a bunch of these guys mixed in there, and Chris to me, he has a little bit of size to him, he’s got outstanding speed. I don’t know a team that wouldn’t want to have him, that he wouldn’t fit. I think that’s why you see him kind of mocked in a lot of different areas.”
Jeremiah then went out on a limb to predict where Olave will land, and we were all ears.
“For Olave, I’ll go with the Philadelphia Eagles. They go back to the wide receiver well for the third year in a row. They’ve got two cracks at it, so I up my odds from that standpoint. But I would say I like him with Philadelphia. If not to Philadelphia, I like the team that’s picking right behind them, the Saints.”
For those of you counting, the Eagles are set to pick at No. 15, while the Saints will let the world know what they intend to do at No. 16 — barring any trades of course.
Will Jeremiah be prophetic? Will another team jump up and take Olave before it gets this far? Might he possibly slide down the draft board? We’re just one week away from finding out.
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