ASU Football: ESPN’s Mel Kiper ranks Jayden Daniels as his fourth QB in NFL draft 2022 rankings

If you pay attention to the NFL draft process, you’ll know who Mel Kiper is. The lead NFL draft analyst for ESPN dropped his initial rankings for 2022. The biggest name to pop out was Jayden Daniels, who Kiper ranked as his fourth highest quarterback.

This is one, if not the highest rankings for Daniels thus far. Kiper only has Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler, North Carolina’s Sam Howell and Liberty’s Malik Willis. Daniels is rated higher than the likes of USC’s Kedon Slovis and Ole Miss’ Matt Corral.

Kiper also released a top 25 overall board, Daniels was not included in that, but the three quarterbacks ahead of him were. One can infer that Daniels is likely close to the top 25, meaning Kiper likely sees him as a late-first round to high-second round talent right now. There is probably projection in Kiper’s assestment that Daniels will take a step forward in his progression, as people are currently, but his knowledge of what the NFL thinks of these prospects matters as well.

Also included in the article is Kiper’s positional rankings for each ranking. Rachaad White is Kiper’s fourth ranked running back and Dohnovan West comes in as his third-best center.