ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. says a college quarterback who he previously compared to Tom Brady is not getting past the New England Patriots at No. 15 in April’s NFL Draft.
A former scout-team quarterback who began his NCAA career at Alabama in the shadows of heralded NFL prospects Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones is flying up mock draft boards as the hype around him continues to grow.
“I think New England would be the furthest he would be able to drop,” Kiper told InsideHook during a Monday conference call. “I think he certainly could go in the top 10. With the season he had and the way he played in the National Championship Game, boy, he boosted his stock as far as he could. His leadership, competitiveness and what he did at the Senior Bowl … all that is going to make him a top-15 pick.”
As Kiper referenced, the season Jones had — his first as Alabama’s starter — was a doozy. Undefeated in 13 games, Jones set the Crimson Tide’s single-season passing record with 4,500 yards through the air, and his 41 passing touchdowns were just two away from tying the single-season TD record Tagovailoa set over 15 games in 2018.
Jones, who capped his college career by completing 36-of-45 passes for 464 yards and five touchdowns during Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the National Championship Game, also set an NCAA record with a 77.4% completion rate and passed the NCAA single-season record of 201.96 in passer efficiency rating set by LSU’s Joe Burrow last season with a mark of 203.06.
Some have suggested those jaw-dropping statistics are a reflection of Jones playing behind an NFL-quality offensive line and having first-round talents like DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle to throw to at receiver, but Kiper says the 22-year-old’s weapons on offense should not be held against him.
“A lot of quarterbacks these days have great talent around them. Joe Burrow had more talent than anybody. Did that affect how he played this year at Cincinnati when he looked like a definite franchise quarterback?” Kiper says. “You can’t penalize a guy for being a quarterback at Alabama or being a quarterback at LSU or at Ohio State or wherever it may be. Mac Jones had an awesome array of talent around him, but he was accurate to all levels and is able to make something out of nothing.”
Able to manipulate the pocket, sense pressure and make effective throws, Jones seems to have all the makings of a professional quarterback. But even Kiper acknowledges there are some valid reasons to be concerned the success Jones had as a passer in college will not continue at the next level.
“Is there some boom-bust [potential] there? Yeah, because he only had 17 career starts and he doesn’t have tremendous, obvious, athletic ability and speed,” Kiper says. “He’s not going to beat you up with his legs. On a Bustometer, on a scale of one to 10, he would probably be a five or six, where [Clemon QB] Trevor Lawrence would be maybe a one or a two. There is more of a bust factor with [North Dakota State QB] Trey Lance and Jones probably than all the other quarterbacks.”
Whether Jones will end up panning out as a starting QB in the NFL remains to be seen, but it certainly sounds like he is going to get drafted — and it won’t be in the sixth round like Brady.
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