Mel Kiper Jr. explains ranking Jayden Daniels over Marvin Harrison Jr.
As the calendar flips to April, Mel Kiper Jr still is updating his NFL Draft board. And this week, he made a significant overall move. Jayden Daniels eased ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr.
If you’ve watched the NFL Draft, you know that teams, especially early in the first round, select on need and not best available player. Several quarterbacks already are expected to go before Harrison, the former Ohio State star receiver, based on some teams extreme need. With Kiper, he now considers Daniels, the 2023 Heisman winner from LSU, the better overall prospect.
We should also mention that Caleb Williams remains No. 1 on Kiper’s NFL Draft board. Williams and Daniels are ahead of the big three receivers — Harrison, Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze. if you plan on watching the draft, memorize those names.
On Kiper’s First Draft, he gave his thoughts on the rankings.
“This is all about putting them right next to the player that I can’t separate,” Kiper said. “Marvin Harrison Jr. with Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze is right there. Those three … you’re splitting hairs with all three of them. And I think with Caleb and with Jayden, you’re right there as well. So I just wanted to get him in a position where there’s no separation there. They’re there and are equal, with a light edge to Marvin Harrison Jr. Then Malik and then Rome and Caleb maintains that top spot.”
Kiper concedes he initially ranked Daniels as a fourth rounder for NFL Draft before season started
Kiper then explained what made him ponder how high to place Daniels on the draft board. It all had to do with where Kiper projected Daniels before the 2023 college football season started. That’s when he brought up another former LSU quarterback, who topped the 2020 NFL Draft.
“And one hesitancy for me is the fact that I had him as a fourth rounder going into this year,” Kiper said. “You say, ‘well, that was way off. It shouldn’t be there. You say ‘Joe Burrow, where was Joe Burrow going into his final year at LSU?’ He wasn’t as highly rated as he was that final year when he went number one overall. He wasn’t even close to it.
Kiper also lauded Daniels’ stats.
“So Jayden Daniels’ progression at LSU mirrored what Joe Burrow did, and that’s why you see it right there. I mean, go from 17 touchdowns to 40? Completion percentage is ideal each year. No problem there, right. Yardage way up. The fourth quarter numbers were outstanding — 10 touchdowns, two picks and three rushing touchdowns. And the fourth quarter, oh, by the way, in the fourth quarter he completed 72 percent, going to be 73 percent of his passes. Drake Maye was at 62 percent, Michael Penix Jr. was 59 percent.
“So when it matters the most in the fourth quarter, and it did for LSU because their defense couldn’t stop anybody, that’s when Jayden Daniels was at his best. So I don’t like jumping a fourth round (prospect) to the number two on a big board. But I kind of did it with Joe burrow that worked out pretty good.”