Daniel Jeremiah believes Caleb Williams will be the first player taken no matter what

NFL Network Draft Analyst, Daniel Jeremiah, in a conference call with NFL media, says that USC's Caleb Williams is not only the top quarterback on the board, but that he is the top player in the draft, regardless who you put him up against. However, he is unsure as to whether or not Williams can assume the starting role from Day One.

"Now, he is not as clean or as polished as some guys we have had over the last few years. Obviously C.J. Stroud was kind of ready-made and just came out there and hit the ground running. I think there's still some more growth and some cleaning up to do with Caleb's game, but talent-wise its pretty special."

- Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network Analyst

Jeremiah said that even though this is a good quarterback draft, Williams is the number one guy, especially when you compare him to players of the past. Except, of course, if you are comparing him to Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl Champion.

"I've made the comment about him, and you're going to have Patrick Mahomes name come up. Look, you don't want to compare somebody to the best player on the planet, but just in terms of how he kind of plays with the creativity and a little flare, and in all the different types of throws he can make in terms of driving the ball, layering the ball, extending plays, all those things, there are some similarities there."

- Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network Analyst

Jeremiah did, however, compare Mahomes' situation in college to that of Williams' situation at USC. He said that both came from teams that had porous defenses that gave up a lot of points. In Mahomes' last season at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders were 128th in scoring defense and last year USC was 121st.

He said that was Williams was "constantly chasing points. I thought that led to some
of the bad habits that creeped in a little bit this year.

"&That's one of the other numbers on him. The other one is he lost eight games at USC. They gave up an average of 43 points in those games. He was 12-0 when they managed to allow less than 34 points. So it's tough to play quarterback when you are chasing points like that constantly."

- Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network Analyst

Jeremiah said that after Williams, the top quarterback who is not Caleb Williams, is Drake Maye from North Carolina. He has him projected as the number two pick going to Washington and playing for offensive guru Kliff Kingsbury.

"Drake Maye with just having a little more prototypical size and playing in a rugged division, I think that might be more of a decision-making point more so maybe than the offense would be. You know, the location and the division and playing outdoors in Washington. That to me would lean a little bit more towards Drake Maye."

- Daniel Jermiah, NFL Network Analyst

For Jeremiah, he was clearly in his element as this is the start of his favorite time of the year.

"Excited about the combine coming up. It's going to be a fun draft. You've got quarterbacks. You've got receivers. You've got tackles, offensive tackles. That to me is kind of the highlight that we're working with here. A lot of depth at those positions. It almost feels like Christmas when we do this call every year because this is really happening. We're really getting into the thick of it. We're past the Super Bowl."

- Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network Analyst

Click here to see Jeremiah's Top 50 Players Entering the Combine.