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Unlike other highly-rated quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, Mac Jones isn’t known for his mobility. The former Alabama quarterback is coming off a record-breaking season in which he passed for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns while setting the NCAA single-season records in completion percentage (77.4 percent) and quarterback efficiency rating (203.06). His 14 rushing yards on 35 attempts generated quite a bit less excitement.
However, the notion that Jones is completely stone-footed behind center is a bit of a stretch. While the pocket passer isn’t going to beat many defenders with his feet, several evaluators believe he has the necessary mobility to make plays at the next level. Count ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. as one of them.
During a Monday conference call with the media, Kiper highlighted a play Jones made during the third quarter of this year’s national championship game against Ohio State. Facing a third-and-2 from his own 33-yard line, the Alabama quarterback took a snap out of the shotgun and rolled to his left. From there, Jones pump-faked a defender before hitting a streaking Jahleel Billingsley for a 22-yard gain. Jones then continued to drive Alabama down the field, ultimately hitting Slade Bolden for a 5-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach.
“Mac Jones isn’t going to run,” Kiper explained. “He’s not going to beat you with his legs like Joe Burrow can. But he can slip and slide and feel pressure in the pocket enough to buy time and keep his vision down the field and get the ball to a receiving entity like he did with the tight end, Billingsley.”
Last year, Tua Tagovailoa became the first Alabama quarterback to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft in more than four decades. By all indications, the Crimson Tide won’t have to wait very long to produce its next first-rounder at the position.
Kiper, who recently projected Jones to be selected at No. 8 overall to the Carolina Panthers in his latest mock draft, is one of several analysts who are high on the right-hander.
While most projections have Jones behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, BYU’s Zach Wilson and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, it’s entirely possible that he could be the fourth quarterback taken off the board next month. Given several teams’ need for passers, that likely puts his draft window anywhere from No. 8 to No. 19. According to Kiper, that position corresponds to Jones’ grade as a prospect.
“Competitiveness, you see it,” Kiper said. “Just the way he gets into the huddle, out of the huddle, his energy on the field. He doesn’t have very many bad plays, but when something went awry, a team made a move [or if] they were matching points like Ole Miss, he would just go out there and just, boom, right down the field.
“You could say, ‘Oh, well he had great talent around him.’ But he didn’t have [Jaylen] Waddle after Oct. 24. He didn’t have [Henry] Ruggs or [Jerry] Jeudy, they were both in the NFL. You look at [Jones], even after Waddle got hurt he didn’t miss a beat.”
While Kiper is high on Jones, he does admit that the quarterback’s limited mobility could create more pressure on an offensive line than the more dual-threat options in this year’s class. However, he said the quarterback’s competitiveness, smarts and accuracy across all levels make up for the disparity in athleticism.
The belief that a mobile quarterback is needed to succeed in today’s game was dispelled this season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl with 43-year-old Tom Brady behind center. Jones has drawn comparisons to the seven-time Super Bowl champ, including one from a former teammate Monday.
“I would say he’s a sly kind of athletic person,” Tagovailoa said of Jones on a Yahoo Sports podcast. “He’s a more mobile Tom Brady. He’s very athletic, very smart too.”
Like Kiper, Tagovailoa also spoke highly of Jones' intangibles and personality off the field, calling him “a really great person.”
"A lot of the guys, when I was playing at Alabama, they really loved being around his personality and who he was,” he said. “So I'm thinking whatever team gets him they're going to be very lucky. He's a great player."
