Mac Jones is currently the betting favorite to be selected by the San Francisco 49ers at No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL draft. That doesn’t mean he’s lock, but things are trending in that direction.
It seems like there are players every year who are considered high risk, high reward prospects. In many ways, Jones is a safe prospect. There isn’t a lot of room for improvement, but you know what you’re getting with him.
Doug Farrar with the Touchdown Wire looks at it different, especially with Jones being a potential top-3 pick. If the former Alabama quarterback is the target, that means Kyle Shanahan and company used multiple first-round picks to get him.
That’s added pressure.
Farrar recently did a piece breaking down the riskiest boom-or-bust prospects in this year’s draft. And of course, Jones cracked that list. Here is what Farrar had to say about The Joker:
In 2020, Jones completed 311 of 402 passes for 4.500 yards, 41 touchdowns, and four interceptions. When under pressure, per Sports Info Solutions, Jones completed 56 of 88 passes for 976 yards, 556 air yards, 13 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 131.4. No quarterback in a major program had more touchdown passes or had a higher quarterback rating under pressure. On throws of 20 or more air yards, per Pro Football Focus, Jones completed 33 of 56 passes for 1.355 yards, 17 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 128.0. No other quarterback had more deep touchdown passes than Jones.
All good from that perspective. What’s the problem? Jones is an old-school pocket quarterback with very little to offer in the way of second-reaction ability or mobility outside the pocket. And when you watch Alabama’s 2020 tape, you often see Jones aided ably by a dominant offensive line, an RPO-based offense that disheveled defenses, and a receiver group led by DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle that gave Jones some pretty easy options — basically, wait for your guys to smoke coverage, and throw to who’s open.
Jones will need both personnel and schematic help at the NFL level, and his lack of mobility could be a concern for a lot of teams. Put him in a situation without that help, and it might be a problem.
We’ll have to see how things turn out, but there’s no denying that Jones would be set up for success in San Francisco. The offensive line is in great shape, there are plenty of weapons that can create after the catch and Shanahan is one of the top offensive lines in the game.
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