Mel Kiper, Field Yates Re-Draft Williams, Daniels, Maye, 2024 NFL QB Class in Video

ESPN's Mel Kiper and Field Yates re-drafted the quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft in a Wednesday episode of First Draft.

Kiper believed Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels should have been drafted at the top, while Yates argued the first pick should have gone to New England Patriots signal caller Drake Maye.

The 2024 class saw three quarterbacks selected in the top three picks as the Chicago Bears snagged Caleb Williams, the Commanders drafted Daniels and the Patriots selected Maye.

Three more signal callers rounded out the top 12 in the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8), Minnesota Vikings' J.J. McCarthy (No. 10) and Denver Broncos' Bo Nix (No. 12).

The ESPN analysts agreed that Daniels, who led the Commanders to the NFC Championship game last year, and Maye, who ranks third in the NFL with 2,555 passing yards through 10 games, should be considered the top two quarterbacks in the re-draft.

Williams was then re-drafted at third, with Yates noting he has taken a step forward in his second NFL season.

Following what Yates described as a "sizable gap" between the top three quarterbacks and the fourth on the list, the ESPN analysts ranked Bo Nix next in the class.

"Bo Nix is not the reason why you guys are 8-2 right now... Bo Nix, right now, is playing too erratic," Yates said. "The accuracy has become an issue. The footwork has become a problem. He is simply not seeing things in the way in which I think he saw them at times, or maybe most of the time, last year."

The ESPN analysts agreed to rank Penix at No. 5, with Kiper saying there is "something missing" in Penix's throwing game.

"There's no reason why, because you've got Bijan [Robinson], you've got the receivers with Drake [London] and those guys, and it's just not happening on a consistent basis right now," Kiper said.

McCarthy, who made his NFL debut this fall after missing his rookie 2024 season due to injury, came in at the back of the six-quarterback class in the re-draft. Kiper described McCarthy as "wildly inconsistent" even from quarter to quarter.

That evaluation comes across a sample size of just four regular-season games, however. McCarthy hope to improve his standing in any future re-drafts by improving down the stretch of his rookie season.