Daniel Jeremiah Explains His Mock Draft Projection for Giants

NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah is one of the most connected people in the business to evaluate NFL draft prospects.

However, in his most recent mock draft, Jeremiah caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised when he mocked Georgia edge rusher Travon Walker to the Giants at No. 5 and USC receiver Drake London to Big Blue at No. 7.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah had Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux mocked to the Falcons at No. 8 while top offensive line prospects Evan Neal (Alabama) was mocked to Jacksonville at No. 1, and Ickey Ekwonu (North Carolina State) was mocked to the Jets at No. 4.

The surprise, though, was the Giants passing on Thibodeaux, who is currently Pro Football Focus's No. 2 player on their big board and NFL's fourth-best overall prospect on their big board in favor of Walker, currently ranked No. 45 on the NFL.com big board.

On Friday, during a national video conference call with the media, Jeremiah addressed his pick of Walker to the Giants at No. 5.

Travon Walker is one that I think I upset the majority of the New York Giants fan base by giving him to the Giants in this latest mock draft. And I wasn't trolling. I legit think this guy has got a chance to go all the way up there. He's going to go to the combine. From what I was told from what he was doing at Georgia, he's going to be 6'5", anywhere from 265 to 275 pounds. He's probably going to have close to 35-inch arms, which is ridiculously long, and he's going to run in the low 4.6s.

So literally is -- he's a special, special athlete. When you watch him on tape at Georgia, I know some people will point to the pressure percentage numbers, the mass production and be a little disappointed. But when you study him, and you see how tight his alignments are there and what he's asked to do, they don't loosen him up on the edge and just let him go.

That Jeremiah didn't mock an offensive lineman to the Giants isn't as alarming as it might have once been, especially after he presented his research supporting the notion that teams can build effective offensive lines without having to spend first-round draft picks.

Jeremiah's strategy in this edition of his mock draft sort of mirrors what AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals did last year when they passed on adding offensive lineman Penei Sewell in favor of receiver Ja'Marr Chase, a player whom some analysts have said if the Bengals don't have, they don't make the playoffs let alone the Super Bowl.

With the combine on deck, followed by pro days, player rankings are sure to change, as will mock drafts. But give Jeremiah credit for thinking outside the box with his latest mock draft.

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