This Intel From Draft Expert Would Be Great For Receiver-Needy Patriots
Daniel Jeremiah doesn’t have to go deep into the memory bank to recall an NFL draft when highly-respected receiver prospects fell down the board.
While speaking to reporters on a video conference Wednesday, Jeremiah pointed to the 2019 NFL Draft, which featured Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf. All three of those NFL stars were selected in the second round after entering with higher pre-draft grades. Just one year later, CeeDee Lamb surprisingly tumbled out of the top 15 picks and Justin Jefferson fell outside the top 20.
Jeremiah believes the 2024 NFL Draft could be similar.
“I think there’s a chance some of these wideouts get pushed down a little bit just because of the sheer number of them,” Jeremiah said on the video conference.
“It seems like every year there’s a couple of these guys that we have pegged as lock first-rounders at the wideout position that teams just feel like because of the volume of wideouts, they can address some other needs and get one later.”
When asked which receivers he believes could jump into the first-round, Jeremiah countered. He said he thinks it’s more likely for first-round receivers to fall into the second round rather than second-round wideouts jump into the back half of the first.
That would be good news for any team in need of adding a receiver in the NFL draft, including the New England Patriots.
New England, which is expected to draft its quarterback of the future third overall, will be on the clock at the top of the second (No. 34) and third round (No. 68). The Patriots have a glaring need at receiver, and almost certainly will address it with one of their first three selections.
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Jeremiah mentioned a few specific wideouts who have high grades that could drop to Day 2. Among them, he said, are South Carolina product Xavier Legette, Georgia’s Ladd McConkey, Florida’s Ricky Pearsall and Texas speedy receiver Xavier Worthy.
Pearsall has been referred to as the receiver “rising faster” than anyone else in the class.
Jeremiah also mentioned Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley as a receiver who could be an option for the Patriots in the third round, and said he’s curious to see where Florida State product Keon Coleman gets drafted. Coleman has been linked to the Patriots, though Mel Kiper Jr. mocked Coleman to New England in the second round.
When Jeremiah ranked his top 50 prospects March 7, he included McConkey (No. 34), Pearsall (No. 39), Worthy (No. 41), Coleman (No. 45) and Corley (No. 47). Legette was not included on the list.