Daniel Jeremiah defends mocking Travon Walker to Giants at No. 5

“I wasn’t trolling. I legit think this guy has got a chance to go all the way up there.”

Daniel Jeremiah knows that he set off a firestorm in the New York Giants fan base this week when he mocked edge rusher Travon Walker and wide receiver Drake London to the team at picks 5 and 7 respectively.

The NFL Network analyst addressed that during a Friday conference call.

“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,” Jeremiah said. “And I wasn’t trolling. I legit think this guy has got a chance to go all the way up there.”

In Jeremiah’s mock draft, Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal went No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars and North Carolina State offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu went No. 4 to the New York Jets.

Jeremiah was clear on Friday while Ekwonu would be a “slam dunk” selection for the Giants, that if he and Neal were off the board the Giants look to fill other needs rather than force an offensive line selection.

As for Walker, Jeremiah believes that fans — and more importantly NFL teams — are going to come out of Indianapolis pushing Walker up their draft boards.

“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,” Jeremiah said.

“So literally is — he’s a special, special athlete.”

Jeremiah believes that if teams question Walker’s production at Georgia, they need to look closer at how he was used.

“When you watch him on tape at Georgia, I know some people will joint to the pressure percentage numbers, the pass 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,” Jeremiah said.

“I think an NFL team is going to give him that opportunity, and I think you’re going to see a really, really good player. But this is somebody, when you’re talking to GMs and personnel directors on an almost daily basis, this guy’s name comes up almost every day. This guy has got a lot of love around the league, and he’s going to go a lot higher than people anticipate.”