Sunday’s Patriots-Jaguars game featured 2021 No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence facing off against Mac Jones, the fifth quarterback taken in the 2021 draft. When it comes to who played better Sunday and who’s having the better season, there’s no competition.
Jones went 22-of-30 for 227 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 128.1 passer rating to lead New England to a blowout 50-10 win. He is now 10-6 on the season with 3,540 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 92.5 rating.
Lawrence, meanwhile, threw three interceptions and one touchdown on 17-of-27 passing for 193 yards and a 57.1 rating. He is now 2-14 on the season for 3,418 yards, 10 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and a 69.6 rating.
The vast gap between their levels of success this season raises the question: Would Lawrence still be picked ahead of Jones if the draft were redone today?
CBS analyst and WFAN host Boomer Esiason said on The Greg Hill Show earlier this season that he believed Jones was the best quarterback in this year’s rookie class. Making his weekly appearance on Monday, Esiason clarified his stance and explained why he thinks a lot of teams would still take Lawrence ahead of Jones.
Listen to the full interview with Esiason below. The discussion about Jones vs. Lawrence begins at the 2:55 mark.
“I think if we had to do it all over again, I think Trevor Lawrence probably still would’ve went number one,” Esiason said. “You have to remember, one of the reasons why I said what I said way back when in the beginning was where Mac Jones was going and how stable a franchise it is. I mean, the Jacksonville Jaguars are anything but steady. This is a team that fired their coach in the middle of the season. That tells you all you need to know about the mess going on around Trevor Lawrence. I don’t think we really know how good Trevor Lawrence can be.”
Esiason compared it to his own experience as a player, noting that he benefited from being drafted by a Bengals team that had a good coaching staff, some organizational stability, and a good veteran quarterback to learn from in Ken Anderson.
“So much of our success as players in this league is dependent on where we’re drafted and who we play for,” Esiason said. “For me, if I go back to 1984, I fell to the second round, I wasn’t happy, but it turned out to be fortuitous for me because I went to Cincinnati. Kenny Anderson was there, a great player who should be in the Hall of Fame. … I couldn’t have stepped into a better place to learn how to play quarterback in the NFL. That’s not where Trevor Lawrence is, but that’s exactly where Mac Jones is.”
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