Daniel Jeremiah recently held a conference with media ahead of the NFL Combine on February 26, speaking to reporters across the league about this year's draft class.
He spoke a bit about his recent mock draft, in which he mocked EDGE T.J. Parker to the Detroit Lions, as well as other positions of major interest to Lions fans ahead of the draft at the end of April.
Jeremiah's praise, specifically, of the NFL-readiness of this year's centers, tackles, cornerbacks, and safeties should be music to Detroit fans' ears, especially knowing how tight the Lions' cap space is at the moment without any restructurings having surfaced.
Daniel Jeremiah's 2026 NFL Draft class praise should be music to Lions fans' ears
Aside from Parker, Jeremiah has a ton of edge rushers in his top 50 prospects ahead of the draft. That bodes well for the Lions, who pick 17th overall and likely aren't going to have the money to drop on a premier pass rusher in free agency like Trey Hendrickson.
Detroit Lions team reporter Tim Twentyman, who took notes on the entire press conference, said that Jeremiah pointed out, "the edge talent is so deep in this draft that teams will be able to get starters well into Day 2 if they go another route in the first round."
The most interesting part of the press conference as it pertains to the Lions was Jeremiah noting that the team has been sniffing around the tackle market in free agency, which could indicate that they're looking for a league-ready starter to add to the roster or, at least, looking to add back to depth lost thanks to Dan Skipper's retirement. Either way, this seems significant in relation to Taylor Decker.
READ MORE: Minkah Fitzpatrick mock trade would send much-needed safety depth to Lions
Jeremiah added that, "When you're looking at pick No. 17, Monroe Freeling (Georgia) makes a lot of sense there as someone who's kind of got the excellent size. There's some torque and physicality and aggressiveness in the way he plays."
As for center, Jeremiah said that the team could probably wait until Day 2 to find a starting caliber player. Centers aren't commonly going atop the draft, but there's plenty of need around the league at IOL - Detroit being one of those teams. Some names that Jeremiah specifically praised here included Jake Slaughter, Sam Hecht, and Trey Zuhn III.
With safety also being a huge question mark for the Lions' defense headed into 2026, it's good to hear that Jeremiah thinks that the top three safeties in this class - Caleb Downs, Dillon Thieneman, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren - are also just top players in this class, period. Detroit could snag Thieneman or McNeil-Warren at 50th overall, most likely, with Downs seen as a first round pick.