If we had told you at the end of the 2020 college football season that Mac Jones would be selected ahead of Justin Fields and Trey Lance in the NFL Draft, you would have laughed.
Indeed, though, that appears to be a very real possibility, if not altogether likely. The San Francisco 49ers own the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft, and we've projected them to select Jones in our latest Audacy Sports mock. Apparently that isn't viewed as a reach within NFL circles, the way it may be to some in the public, per NBC's Peter King.
"I think it was Adam Schefter who first said 'I think that they really like Mac Jones.' And it was like the world collapsed - 'what a bunch of idiots, they don't know what they're doing.' I'm telling you, I have not heard one general manager or personnel person when I was putting this mock draft together say 'Man, the 49ers are dumb.' I have not. Mac Jones is very well liked and very respected in the coaching and scouting fraternity," King said Monday on his podcast.
King would go on to say that he's been told that it's 60-40 that the 49ers will take Jones with the third overall pick, with Lance the other contender for the position. Unless this is the greatest smokescreen of all time, the 49ers appear to have ruled out Fields.
With Jones, there does appear to be the lack of fizzle you could potentially get with Lance or Fields, though that may not bother Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan's fondness of Kirk Cousins is well documented, and Matt Ryan won the NFL MVP in 2016, when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator in Atlanta. Certainly, most teams in the sport appear to be placing an increasing emphasis on mobility in a quarterback, but Shanahn is the type of offensive mind that you kind of give the benefit of the doubt to.
Is it possible that a few teams - maybe like the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots - would be incentivized to talk Jones up to King, hoping that Lance or Fields falls to them? Maybe, but a majority of the league doesn't really have a reason to mislead anyone in their evaluations of Jones.
One unnamed NFC quarterbacks coach told Tom Pelissero of NFL Media that he believes Jones is the most pro-ready quarterback in this year's class, but also that the former Alabama quarterback doesn't have the same type of ceiling as Fields or Zach Wilson, who the New York Jets are expected to select with the No. 2 overall pick.
But while fans may be more inclined to take the higher ceiling, lower floor prospect, NFL teams value stability. If you win 10 or 11 games every year, you're going to stay employed for a long time. And if you insert Jones into Shanahan's system - on a team that has a Super Bowl-caliber roster when healthy - you may not need him to be a top five quarterback to do special things.
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