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The K&C Masterpiece was joined by Daniel Jeremiah as we get closer to the 2026 NFL Draft. Jeremiah broke down the evaluation process, highlighted the importance of experience and reps, and analyzed potential fits for the Cowboys like Jermod McCoy and T.J. Parker. He also discussed Sonny Styles, Ty Simpson, and more.
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00:00Right now, we bring to you NFL Network's lead draft analyst and host of the Move the Sticks podcast.
00:07It is indeed Daniel Jeremiah. Good afternoon, sir.
00:12What's going on?
00:13Man, we're pumped to have you on, and I want to start with something that you tweeted out yesterday,
00:19because I think this could hit any number of players.
00:21Love it or list it?
00:22Yeah, yes. I mean, we can talk about that as well.
00:28You tweeted out, the NFL draft process is very long. Don't get bored with great players.
00:34I think we all agree with that. Is there anyone in particular that helps spark the thought behind that tweet?
00:42Well, I mean, there's a whole bunch of guys.
00:44I think people try and poke holes the longer you go through the process and looking for what's wrong instead
00:50of what's right.
00:51And you could start at the very top with Mendoza.
00:54You could talk about Reuben Bain being in that mix, Mekhi Lemon.
00:59You know, there's a whole host of guys that I think you just kind of go through the whole process,
01:03and it's like, oh, well, something's wrong with them.
01:05And it's like, no, actually, they're pretty good, man.
01:07Let's go back to your original thoughts.
01:09We've been discussing this pretty adamantly, obviously, with the Cowboys around here.
01:14We're trying to figure out some linebacker spots and trying to stack all that up.
01:18I'm going to give you three names.
01:19Can you rank them and kind of tell me what you feel about each one of these guys?
01:24C.J. Allen, Anthony Hill, Jacob Rodriguez.
01:27Where do you feel those guys fall?
01:29Yeah, that's a great little group right there.
01:32And I've talked to several teams about this exact same thing over the last few weeks
01:37as I've kind of finished things up.
01:39And I will say there's a lot more push on Anthony Hill getting moved up a little bit.
01:46I have it C.J. Allen at 26, Anthony Hill 37, Jacob Rodriguez 45.
01:53But I don't think there's any locks in terms of the order those guys go.
01:57And if Jacob Rodriguez ended up being the 25th pick in the draft
02:01and he was the first one to go, it wouldn't shock me at all.
02:05They're all really, really good players.
02:06I think there's a chance we see all three of them go in the second round.
02:10But I think the orders are mixed around.
02:12C.J. Allen's one of those guys.
02:14I think if he had had a clean process, he wasn't able to run.
02:18And everybody, I've talked to guys at Georgia for years and years and years,
02:21and they are very accurate with their times that I've gotten out of them
02:26and cross-checking those over the years, he's a low 4'5 guy.
02:29He can really run.
02:30He's almost 6'3", 230 pounds.
02:33All the intangible stuff is great with all three of these guys.
02:37I just thought he played a little more violent than the other two,
02:39so that's why I had him as the top one.
02:42But Anthony Hill's ability to blitz and rush off the edge
02:45to combine what he does off the ball, and he's big and fast.
02:48There's a lot to love there.
02:49And then Rodriguez was the stat stuffer, but you question the athleticism,
02:54and then he goes out and rips a 4'5", 7", which kind of answered that question.
02:58So it's like, I mean, I don't think there's a wrong answer.
03:01Like, there's times when players get picked, and I'll go, oh, my, you know,
03:05whether or not you're not going to blast them on TV, but you kind of go like,
03:08wow, man, I would much rather have this player than that player.
03:12With that little clump of linebackers, I don't know that there's a wrong answer.
03:16Yeah.
03:16Yeah, I see that.
03:18That's why I'm, Kevin, very adamantly saying Jacob Rodriguez should be the fourth rounder,
03:23because the Cowboys do have, you know, some picks down lower,
03:26and I don't think that they can get them in the second round.
03:28So I'm hoping that he falls just –
03:30All right.
03:30Well, I mean, look.
03:31It's more hope than anything else.
03:32As long as we're talking about potentially controversial draftable players
03:35from the state of Texas, how about Cassius Howell from A&M?
03:40And that's another one that I feel like people wildly swing about what they think about him.
03:46I had two calls within – not even joking – within, like, two hours of each other,
03:53and both – and pie up with teams.
03:56And the first one was – it might have been a text.
04:01I think it was a text on that one.
04:02It said, finished all my work on how don't care about the arms, not an issue at all,
04:09like, you know, love him, you know, on and on, loves him.
04:12And then the next person I got a phone call from who's on the coaching side,
04:16and he's like, ah, you know, he plays small.
04:19Like, he gets swallowed up.
04:20He can't disengage.
04:21Like, the arm length is a real issue.
04:23And I'm like, we're talking about the same dude, you know.
04:25And people are all over the map on him.
04:29My thing is, like, I look at a couple things with these pass rushers,
04:33and, you know, if you do one thing exceptionally well, well, he does.
04:36His get-off is the best in the draft.
04:38He's got an elite, elite burst.
04:41And then on top of that, it's like, when you watch the games, do you feel them?
04:45And I felt him in darn near every game that I watched,
04:48except the Miami game, which people have dinged him on.
04:50But when you go back through that, the wind was whipping.
04:53They were running the ball like crazy.
04:55They were spitting the ball out to the perimeter real quick.
04:57He didn't really have that many opportunities to rush in that game.
05:00So I think that's a little bit of an unfound criticism of his game.
05:05I love him, Kevin.
05:06I'll tell you.
05:07Yeah, Kevin's an A&M guy.
05:08So that's where he's like, I really want to know more about this.
05:11And I've been telling him the whole time I love the player a lot.
05:13I love the way he plays.
05:14I just like the intensity that he plays with.
05:17Daniel Jeremiah joined us here on the KNC Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan.
05:20Why do you keep mocking Jermaud McCoy to the Cowboys?
05:26I'm joking about that.
05:27But, like, I said the other day, I was like,
05:29I'm not sure there's anything he can do to change my mind.
05:32But I could be wrong.
05:34So do you want to talk about just them taking a corner or him specifically?
05:38Well, him at 12 is kind of a little, like, I know there could be dudes that are gone.
05:45And I just, I have a hard time when I'm like, I don't have anything for a year on this
05:50guy,
05:51even though everything that he did in 24 was awesome.
05:55Yeah, that's the whole, I mean, I think he just made the argument for me.
05:58But the, both parts of it, Mansoor Delane, I'm sure, I don't see him getting there.
06:04And he was gone in that mock draft.
06:06He's my top corner.
06:07And he ran really fast the other day.
06:09And that was, if anybody had any concerns, that was it.
06:11So you can throw that away.
06:12He's not going to be there.
06:14So then my next corner is the two Tennessee kids.
06:16And I have McCoy, who I thought was better.
06:19You can make a case his 24 tape is better than even Delane's 25 tape.
06:23It's really, really good.
06:24He's got body control.
06:26He's smooth.
06:27He's fluid.
06:27I mean, you can watch the game against Ohio State.
06:29Him and Jeremiah Smith had a good battle.
06:31He got beat a couple times, but he more than held his own,
06:34as well as anybody has against that freak show.
06:37But, so that makes him the second corner.
06:41So he's my 15th player.
06:42So, yeah, it's, you know, I have him going 12th.
06:45So that's a tiny bit above what he's evaluated as a player.
06:49But, you know, to me, I don't know what you're missing out on.
06:54You know, like, it's like, well, what's the opportunity cost here if you take him?
06:57Like, I don't know there's any other player you're looking at and just going like, oh,
07:00my gosh, like, I got to have him compared to what this kid looked like, at least in 24.
07:05Well, I think he might have just killed one of my dreams, because I was going to ask you
07:09if there's any way you could figure out how to get Mansoor Delane or Caleb Downs a little
07:13further down the board to the Cowboys.
07:15I think Downs is legit.
07:17I think I wouldn't give up hope on Downs.
07:19The Mansoor Delane plane has taken off, and that is not landing anytime soon in DFW.
07:25So that one I think you can forget about.
07:26But I do think Caleb Downs is that one.
07:30I would not put that one to rest just yet.
07:32Can you help me navigate how that fall, or how, I didn't say fall, how that would happen?
07:39I think historically you can look.
07:42When I'm, look, I call the Charger games.
07:44This is my little side gig.
07:46Heck yeah, you do.
07:46If you'd have told me before that draft, and being on the set, that Derwin James was going
07:52to fall to, I believe, 17.
07:54Kyle Hamilton fell to 14.
07:56Nicky Manwari, I think was my 15th or 16th player, fell to the second round.
08:01Like, weird stuff happens in the safety position, and I don't agree with it, but it's been pushed
08:06down to some degree.
08:08And then with Downs, you're looking at someone who's not big.
08:10You know, he's under six feet.
08:12He's a little over 200 pounds.
08:14He's got short arms.
08:15He doesn't have a ton of splash plays.
08:17Like, if you watched McNeil-Warren's splash plays from Toledo, he's got a lot more splash
08:22plays than Downs.
08:23And I know there are some teams who have McNeil-Warren over him.
08:27I know there's some teams that have Thienemann over him.
08:30If you go back and watch Thienemann at Purdue, when they let him play in the middle of the
08:33field, and he had six picks as a freshman, you could see him range and make a lot of plays.
08:38So, look, I have Downs as my top safety, then McNeil-Warren, then Thienemann, but the fact
08:42that we've seen safeties historically drop a little bit, and this guy, when you put him
08:47on a stage next to Derwin and Kyle Hamilton and Ima Wari, he's not going to look like those
08:50guys.
08:51Like, he's just not.
08:52So, where does that place him?
08:54I think he's more likely to go 10 to 20 than to go in the top 10.
08:57Wow!
08:58This is an absolute blast of a group of safeties that you just dropped, by the way.
09:02We got to watch all of them and had an absolute blast watching them.
09:05That being said, if he was at 12 and you're the Cowboys, you'd do that without a doubt?
09:10I would take him.
09:12Yeah, he's my eighth player.
09:13And to me, it's just...
09:15I think in talking to folks at both schools, there's some guys where the sum is greater
09:20than the individual parts.
09:21And I think the impact he'll have on everybody else in the defense and the communication,
09:26the leadership.
09:29I always believe with football, when you're looking at leadership in football, the closer
09:33you are to the middle of the field, the more leadership matters.
09:36If you're talking about a wide receiver and you go, ah, he's not really a leader, I could
09:39care less.
09:40The corner, he doesn't really have any leadership ability.
09:42He's not a great communicator.
09:43He's a loner.
09:44Don't care.
09:45But with centers, with quarterbacks, with middle linebackers, with safeties, that's where
09:51the nerve center of football is.
09:52So when you have somebody that's incredibly bright, incredibly intelligent, a great communicator,
09:57he's a leader, the work ethic, I think those are all kind of force multipliers over what
10:02you might see in his individual skill set.
10:05I know leading up to the draft, it's been classified by many as lying season.
10:09But what are we to make of the draft stock of Ty Simpson?
10:17You know, it hasn't changed for me at all.
10:19I was just looking this up the other day.
10:22So if I, my first list that came out, Ty Simpson was my 40th player.
10:26That was January 22nd, February 20th.
10:30Ty Simpson was my 40th player.
10:34And then March 4th, my last update, Ty Simpson is, he moved all the way up to 38.
10:42So he's been the same guy for me.
10:44And I like him.
10:47Look, he's got great feet.
10:48He's got a smooth motion.
10:50Throws a nice ball.
10:52It's just you can't get away from the fact that he started 15 games, you know, four of
10:56which I didn't think were very good at all.
10:58He's put the ball on the ground seven times.
11:01Now I know, look, they dropped balls around.
11:03The offensive line wasn't great.
11:05They didn't run the ball well.
11:05I get all that stuff.
11:07But when you look at the history of it, man, you're just, you're fighting history, you
11:11know?
11:11And there's a reason why Parcells had that theory and the importance of playing games.
11:15And so when you look at guys with fewer than 17 starts back to 2011, Cam Newton's the only
11:19one who's, who's really been good as a first round pick with fewer than 17 starts.
11:22And he was an absolute freak show.
11:24So I, that, that's why I talk about evaluation.
11:28There's the word value is in there for me.
11:31So I like him.
11:32I just value him as a second round pick, um, because you're taking on that risk of a
11:37guy who hadn't played a lot, you know, last, last thing on that one.
11:40And I'll, I'll, I'll get back to you.
11:41But the, uh, because I think it is an interesting conversation, but the, uh, the other side of
11:46that is looking, talking to a guy who was picked high in the draft, who didn't have a lot of
11:50starts and it didn't work out.
11:51And one of the things he said was it's not just seeing the defenses and making the throws
11:56and getting those reps.
11:57It's like you learn about yourself.
11:59You learn about what you like and what you don't like.
12:01You get your own voice.
12:02So when things are getting installed, you can say, you know what?
12:04I don't, I'm not comfortable with that concept.
12:06I like this better.
12:07When you don't have that body of work, it's just going to make it really, really difficult.
12:12Talk with Daniel Jeremiah right here on 105 through the fan.
12:15I realize it's probably the vocal minority, but what goes through your mind when you hear
12:20people saying Ty Simpson, they have scouted as better or equal to Fernando Mendoza.
12:27Well, I'm first of all, like Orlovsky is a good buddy of mine.
12:30So we have been texting.
12:31I was just looking it up.
12:32Like he told me he kind of was getting to that conclusion that was on a text from early
12:37this month.
12:38So we, and I, you know, I told him my opinion on it, which was different.
12:41And then we kind of had a text back and forth about it.
12:44He's done the work.
12:45He watched it.
12:46And that's the opinion that he came up with.
12:48You know, when you've been in draft rooms, there's going to be guys with different opinions
12:51and some of them you wouldn't, you know, wouldn't anticipate.
12:54So it happens all the time and that's totally normal.
12:57It's, you know, I, I knew this would, it would definitely garner a lot of attention when
13:02he did that.
13:02And there would definitely be some pushback.
13:04So I thought you put a, put a, put a bulletproof vest on when you're going to go out there
13:08with
13:08that one.
13:08But I didn't, I didn't, I just didn't, I don't see it the same, which is, you know,
13:13that's, that's, that's, that's what this makes it fun.
13:15You know, at the end of the day, Brandon Mendoza is worried more about learning the Raiders
13:19playbook right now than he is about what anybody's saying.
13:21Good point.
13:22Good point.
13:23The, I think the last thing here, Daniel, and we really appreciate you hopping on with
13:27this, Keldrick Falk is a name that we kind of can't make our own minds up about.
13:33We can't try and we can't exactly figure out this guy because it looks like he has all
13:37these, he's built exactly how you want for all these different things, but it looks like
13:42he can do a lot of different things too.
13:44Where, where is he for you right now?
13:46Would he be a good fit for the Cowboys?
13:48He's my 32nd player.
13:50But if you told me that somebody valued him much higher than that, I could get it because
13:55you know, you either, you, you love him.
13:57You, you point out that he's versatile and you can use him up and down the line.
14:00He's long.
14:01He's got an ideal NFL body.
14:03He's young.
14:04Like there's more, there's more ahead of him.
14:06Like you can make the case.
14:08The other side of that coin is that I don't think he excels at really at anything there.
14:13He doesn't have, he doesn't have elite juice.
14:16I talk about feeling guys.
14:17You can watch a lot of games.
14:18I don't really feel him that way.
14:20I don't think he's got a great get off.
14:22He does not have production and that's just not sacks.
14:25That's wind percentage.
14:26That's pressure percentage.
14:27So all those things.
14:28So that to me is a, it's a little Jack of all trades, master of none.
14:32So where do you value that?
14:34And, and to tell you like the, how I am on him, he's my 32nd player.
14:39So literally on the borderline of the first round pick, second round pick is where I have him.
14:44Well, Daniel Jeremiah, you can check all of his stuff out on the NFL network.
14:48Also on the move, the sticks podcast.
14:50And as he said, also, also with the Chargers.
14:54Thank you very much for the time.
14:56We know you're busy as all get out, especially right now.
14:58We appreciate you.
14:59I appreciate you guys.
15:00Have a good one.
15:01There you go.
15:02Daniel Jeremiah right here on one Oh five three, the fan.
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