Jesse Palmer revealed which NFL superstar he’d draft as the leading man on “The Bachelor.”
“Joe Burrow. He’s slick and suave. I think he’s mysterious,” Palmer told The Post ahead of Monday’s Season 10 premiere of “Bachelor in Paradise.”
And the 28-year-old Cincinnati Bengals quarterback — who signed a five-year, $275 million deal in 2023 that made him the highest-paid player in NFL history — would likely be a cheap hire for ABC.
“He can afford it. I don’t think we would have to pay much. Honestly, we could just use his planes and his cars and his houses. I think he just bought a Batmobile, actually,” Palmer joked.
But the former Giants quarterback and “Bachelor” franchise host believes Burrow — who is rumored to be dating Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Olivia Ponton — probably wouldn’t agree to the reality show dating gig.
“I’m pretty sure he would not, but you know, we can all dream,” he said.
Palmer, 46, the first professional athlete to star as “The Bachelor,” was hired as the franchise’s host in 2021. He also works as a college football analyst for ESPN — and said he gets stopped by both NFL and dating show fans.
“It’s like a pie chart where it’s normally dudes in football and women in ‘The Bachelor’ . . . but then, sometimes you get people that are like, ‘Hey, my wife and I both are football fans and both watch ‘The Bachelor,’” he said.
This season, one of the cast members of “Bachelor in Paradise” — where castoffs from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” mingle on the beach — refers to him as an avatar who doesn’t age, for which Palmer partly credits his past career.
“You know, it’s amazing, when you’re living in a state of flight all the time, yes, it tends to strengthen your nerves and lower your stress. After being chased by 330-pound people my whole life, I mean, everything else afterwards is a lot less stressful,” he said.
The series also welcomed alums of “The Golden Bachelor” and “The Golden Bachelorette,” the spinoffs that feature seniors as contestants, for the first time this summer — and Palmer said he was totally on board with the decision.
“That was something I was advocating for, by the way, very early on,” he said.
“I think before it was even a possibility. I thought they were deserving of it and I thought it’d make the show better.”
He said the seniors didn’t cause the drama that their younger counterparts did.
“They’re just a lot more secure, probably emotionally intelligent and mature. And they know who they are, and they just don’t stand for stuff,” he noted.
“It’s the younger cast I feel like, who is consistently bringing the drama.”
The former pro athlete, who has a penchant for classic Russian literature, dished on what he did to detach himself from the millennials’ relationship conflicts.
“I was reading Dostoevsky, actually, ‘The Brothers Karamazov,’” he said.
“It’s an intense read. I don’t know if that’s the right read in “Paradise,” but unfortunately, I opened that Pandora’s box.”
