When the Patriots ended up with the No. 3 overall pick, some believed that they were going to miss out on an elite quarterback prospect with Caleb Williams and Drake Maye going first and second.
Jayden Daniels’ ascent has changed that narrative, though. As the LSU quarterback and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner has continued to climb up mock drafts and rankings, it no longer looks like it would be a reach at all to take Daniels with the third pick.
In fact, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. actually had Daniels going second overall in his mock draft this week, with Maye falling to New England at three.
Count The Greg Hill Show’s Jermaine Wiggins among those who are buying in on Daniels.
“I did a deep dive all-22, and I’m sold,” Wiggy said as part of Thursday morning’s leads (listen above). “Give me Jayden Daniels. I’m deep diving, and I’m going Jayden Daniels. I don’t think Caleb’s gonna be on the board. The thing that I saw – he has the arm strength, very similar to Drake Maye. I think when you look at his accuracy throughout his college career, he’s been pretty good with that, with touchdowns-to-interceptions.
“But the one thing that I’ve seen with this league, who are the three best quarterbacks that we look at in the National Football League? In my opinion, [Patrick] Mahomes, [Josh] Allen and Lamar [Jackson]. Two of the three are tremendous runners. The other one’s not a bad runner.
“Jayden Daniels has the skillset as a runner to be really good, and I think that gives him the edge over Drake Maye when we’re talking about potential ceiling. I’m not saying Drake Maye’s not gonna be a good quarterback, but as a Patriots fan, I’m hoping that New England gets Jayden Daniels.”
As a fifth-year senior this season, Daniels completed 72.2% of his passes for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and four interceptions. He ran for another 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns. Size is not an issue for Daniels, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds.
His running ability, athleticism, arm strength and accuracy throwing on the run are considered areas of strength, while the main question marks are his ability to operate from the pocket and go through all his progressions.