Mac Jones

The Jacksonville Jaguars select Clemson's Trevor Lawrence to open a quarterback-heavy top 10 in the latest 2021 NFL mock draft from ESPN's Todd McShay released Thursday night.

Lawrence is followed by BYU's Zach Wilson to the New York Jets at No. 2, the Carolina Panthers trading up to select Ohio State's Justin Fields at No. 3 and the Atlanta Falcons grabbing North Dakota State's Trey Lance at No. 4 to end the initial quarterback flurry atop the order.

The San Francisco 49ers then trade up to No. 9 to take Alabama's Mac Jones. Five QBs within the first nine picks would set the NFL draft record, per McShay.

All signs are pointing toward a first round where the quarterbacks steal the show.

Mel Kiper Jr., McShay's ESPN colleague, predicted trades in his latest mock for the first time in his nearly 40 years covering the draft. He explained the QB class is "too good" to allow several signal-callers to slide down the board because they don't have a good fit based on the current order.

Lawrence, Wilson and Fields are starting to feel like top-five locks. All three have all the tools to step in as Day 1 starters in the NFL.

Lance and Jones are next up, and how much interest there is in them is going to play a key role in exactly how wild the opening night of the draft becomes because front offices will need to make sizable offers if they want to move up somewhere in the top 10.

Jones in particular is starting to generate some serious buzz after a terrific year in his first and only season as the Crimson Tide's full-time starter.

The 22-year-old Davey O'Brien Award winner completed 77.4 percent of his throws for 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions in 13 games. He also helped lead Bama to a 13-0 record and the program's 18th national championship.

There are always baseline concerns about quarterbacks with more limited collegiate experience, as compared to a three- or four-year starter, but everything Jones showed in 2020 suggests he warrants consideration for a QB-needy organization early 

"I think I showed them I'm a great leader and I love being in the huddle with those guys, making jokes and running plays to the best of our abilities," Jones told reporters at the Senior Bowl. "I like the huddle because you can verbalize everything, and that's what I showed."

Along with the Niners (No. 12 pick), the New England Patriots (No. 15), Washington Football Team (No. 19) and Chicago Bears (No. 20) are among the teams that could consider moving up to take a quarterback like Jones in the back end of the top 10.

Mac Jones got another vote in the premier Alabama quarterback conversation, this time from Jaylen Waddle.

Asked on NFL Now whether he preferred playing under current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa or Jones, who took over this season, Waddle chose Jones—the same decision that Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith made when he was asked the same question. 

"He was a guy I came in with and from day one, we was on the third team together and we worked our way up," he said. 

When Jones finally got his chance to debut in 2020 in the wake of Tagovailoa's departure, Waddle wasn't able to be there alongside him for the whole season.

The Texas native appeared in four complete games before he was injured early in a game against Tennessee in October. He didn't appear again until the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

In a complete 2019 campaign, he was named a first-team All-American, the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year and was a conference first-team honoree on special teams. 

Waddle's strongest outings as a receiver came under Tagovailoa in 2018, when he collected 848 yards and seven touchdowns to earn the SEC Freshman of the Year honor, leading all freshman receivers in the conference with 3.1 receptions and 56.5 receiving yards per game. 

He concluded his Alabama career with 1,999 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. 

Tagovailoa joined the Dolphins as the No. 5 overall pick in 2020, and his ceiling could have been higher if he hadn't suffered a hip injury that ended his season in November 2019.

As for Jones, he broke out in his first year as a starter, leading Alabama to an undefeated season with an FBS-leading 4,500 passing yards, collecting a second-best 41 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Though he lost the Heisman to his teammate, he was named the country's best quarterback when he won the Davey O'Brien award.

Heading into the 2020 draft, Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon projected Jones to go to the San Francisco 49ers with the No. 12 pick. 

Perhaps the second endorsement could make him rise up to the level of the quarterbacks who are widely projected to go before him, which includes projected top pick Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson and Trey Lance.  

Heading into NFL draft season, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa offered a pretty intense pro comparison for his former teammate, Alabama signal-caller Mac Jones. 

"I would say he's a sly kind of athletic person," Tagovailoa told Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports. "He's a more mobile Tom Brady."

"He's a sly kind of athletic person. He's a more mobile Tom Brady."@Tua joined @Eric_Edholm and offered up a scouting report on his former Alabama backup @MacJones_10.

Full interview ➡️ https://t.co/FMRYyVHATm pic.twitter.com/tV6tAxAz8W

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 26, 2021

Now, it isn't that hard to be a more mobile quarterback than Brady, who rushed for six yards on 30 carries in 2020 en route to his seventh Super Bowl championship. 

But it's certainly a headline-grabbing comparison for Jones, who finished the 2020 season with 4,500 passing yards, an FBS best, and 41 touchdowns with just four interceptions.

He also rushed for 14 yards and one touchdown (Tagovailoa didn't say he was that much more mobile). 

There are a handful of other talented quarterbacks that are widely expected to be picked ahead of Jones, who led the Crimson Tide to the national championship, including projected top pick Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) and Justin Fields (Ohio State). But Tagovailoa's observation may lead to some teams taking a second look.

Trey Lance is the mystery quarterback of the 2021 NFL draft, a tantalizing prospect with an elite arm and athletic prowess but major questions about his ability to play against NFL competition.

“He’s a guy we all needed to see more of, for a lot of reasons," one coach told Peter King of NBC Sports.

The coach described himself as being "scared" of Lance. King wrote he would not be surprised if Alabama's Mac Jones overtakes Lance as the fourth quarterback in April's draft.

Lance's draft stock is complicated by the fact North Dakota State played only one game in 2020, which was coincidentally the worst game of his career. He threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns against one interception, the first of his collegiate career while adding 143 yards and two scores on the ground.

The performance showed off both Lance's tantalizing talent along with the reasons some scouts think he's not ready to start at the NFL level. Lance's representation can flip that in the other direction, saying a singular game over the span of an entire year isn't enough to knock his draft stock.

When looking at Lance's brilliant 2019 season, it's easy to see the bigger picture. Lance threw for 2,786 yards and 28 touchdowns without a pick while adding 1,100 rushing yards and 14 scores. He led North Dakota State to an undefeated record and FCS national championship.

Because the Bison are essentially the Alabama of the championship subdivision—they hadn't lost since 2017 before last weekend—there are some concerns as to whether Lance was a big fish playing with other big fishes and taking advantage of a small pond filled with minnows.

Carson Wentz is the most successful NFL player to come out of North Dakota State despite the school's success in recent seasons. 

Mac Jones is not considered the top quarterback prospect in the 2021 NFL draft class, but ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. believes he shares some traits with arguably the greatest of all time.

"I hate to say, but he kind of has a little bit of [Tom] Brady in him," Kiper said, per Mike Reiss of ESPN. 

Jones is coming off a huge season with Alabama, totaling 4,500 passing yards and 41 touchdowns with just four interceptions. He led the Crimson Tide to a perfect 13-0 record and a national championship, finishing third in voting for the Heisman Trophy.

While he has arm talent, Kiper noted it's Jones' mental ability that reminds him of Brady:

"I'm not saying he's ever going to be Tom Brady. He wouldn't be close, probably. But he has that competitiveness, and he's so smart—he picked that offense up [at the Senior Bowl] like it was nothing. Other quarterbacks were struggling with the verbiage and—'boom!'—he was in and out of the huddle quicker than anybody I've ever seen.

"Then he sees the field. He's tremendously accurate to all levels. He doesn't have the 'wow' arm, like Brady didn't either coming into the league. And like Brady, he's not real mobile, not a runner. But biding time, slipping and sliding, he did it in the championship game. So there are some similarities there."

Considering Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title this season, any comparison is high praise. Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon projected Jones as the 12th overall pick and fifth quarterback selected in his latest mock draft.

There have never been five quarterback prospects selected in the top 10 of any NFL draft. But there's a possibility it will happen this spring because of the caliber of the position class, demand around the league and how future options project.

Some combination of Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State's Justin Fields, BYU's Zach Wilson, North Dakota State's Trey Lance (pictured) and Alabama's Mac Jones will be in play sooner rather than later.

"When those opportunities are there for guys, you just take them because you got them on such a cheap salary and you can [afford to] put weapons around them,'' said Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane, who traded up to select Josh Allen with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft, per ESPN's David Newton. "But you can't force it if you're not convinced."

Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian echoed Beane's final point.

"When the quarterbacks are pushed up via noise, via demand, the absolute need to get one, then mistakes happen," the six-time NFL Executive of the Year said. "The failure rate is built into the system because it's judging human beings on potential."

So, the starting point of this year's class revolves around projections for the top five quarterback prospects.

Lawrence is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick once the Jacksonville Jaguars are officially on the clock. He's considered the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck came into the league nine years ago. His status as a top pick is all but guaranteed.

From there, the order gets interesting.

Lawrence is wrongly referred to as a "generational talent." He's a very good quarterback prospect and worthy of the first selection, but the gap between his skill set and those of the next three options isn't nearly as wide as it's often made out to be.

Yes, Fields struggled in a couple of games this past season. Yet, the overall consistency found in his passing statistics is surprising when compared to the rest of the crop. As Complex Sports' Ian Wharton charted, the Ohio State product's accuracy percentage to all three levels beyond the line of scrimmage was better than Lawrence, Wilson and Lance.

Questions about Fields' supposed inability to work beyond his first read are easily disproven when watching him and understanding what he's asked to do in the Buckeyes' scheme. For two years as a starter, the 21-year-old was one of the college game's most efficient operators with the added element of his athleticism thrown into the mix.

"[Fields] does everything well and is very consistent. Nice, calm, poised demeanor," an anonymous executive told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "In my book, that gap between he and Lawrence isn't as big as some think."

Wilson skyrocketed his last year on campus with a 73.5 completion percentage and a 33-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. But his traits may be the most exciting part of his potential. Wilson creates natural velocity from multiple arm angles. The 21-year-old quarterback excels when working off-platform or designed pocket movement. He's also highly intelligent.

"On a football field, he's a guy that could easily be a coach right now," Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake told the New York Post's Steve Serby. "You want a guy to be highly competitive, but not a lot of people are willing to sacrifice and put in the time to prepare like he is."

Lance may be the most intriguing of all because he's only 20 years old yet has the most experience in a traditional pro-style scheme. North Dakota State employs a run-first system with heavy reliance on the play-action passing game. Lance can make all the drops from under center and has the arm talent to deliver to all levels of the field. His athleticism is exceptional, with 1,182 rushing yards during his 18 appearances. Teams will fall in love with the person, too.

A source told ESPN's Louis Riddick that "Trey Lance the young man/student of the game is even more impressive than Trey Lance the athlete." 

Those four feel like locks for the top 10. We've seen four quarterbacks come off the board that early in the past. But wait a minute—Jones just entered the fray. To the Alabama quarterback's credit, he just put together the most efficient season in college football history as the Crimson Tide won yet another national championship.

His progression up draft boards throughout the season and into the offseason remains unabated. Former NFL general manager and ESPN contributor Mike Tannenbaum recently opined that Jones' draft "floor" is the eighth overall pick once the Carolina Panthers are on the board.

The thought makes the entire situation quite intriguing because the run on signal-callers could start much earlier than expected. Quarterback-needy franchises sitting outside this year's top 10 must be getting antsy.

Again, Lawrence is the favorite to go No. 1 overall, and his status is unlikely to change between now and April 29.

With the second overall pick, the New York Jets have options. General manager Joe Douglas and new head coach Robert Saleh may fall in love with a QB prospect. Maybe the team stands pat with Sam Darnold and drafts the top-rated non-quarterback. A trade down to acquire additional assets is always a possibility. The odds of a quarterback being selected second seem greater than the Jets or another organization passing on the position altogether.

At No. 3, the Miami Dolphins sit in a similar position after drafting Tua Tagovailoa with last year's fifth overall pick. A trade down seems optimal since the Dolphins are on the verge of playoff contention and also own the 18th overall pick. They can still land a top prospect with their initial selection and allow another squad to jump ahead of the Atlanta Falcons, who own the fourth pick.

Atlanta still has Matt Ryan on its roster. But the possibility of the Falcons selecting a successor shouldn't be ruled out since Ryan's salary-cap hit exceeds $40 million for the upcoming season as well as the one after that. The new regime under general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith might want a fresh start. The idea of starting anew after years of disappointment is logical, and Atlanta may not be in the same position to select another top-shelf quarterback prospect for some time.

Realistically, the top four prospects could be off the board with the first four selections, which has never happened.

The Philadelphia Eagles can't be ruled out, either. As a former second-round pick, Jalen Hurts isn't guaranteed anything. He showed promise last year and should have the inside track toward the starting job. However, the Eagles "intend to bring in competition" for Hurts, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen. A veteran may be a better alternative, but investing in a top-10 quarterback should be in the cards depending on who is still available with the sixth overall pick.

With the eighth overall selection, the Panthers are champing at the bit to replace Teddy Bridgewater. Tannenbaum mentioned Jones as a possible fit here for two reasons. As noted, four quarterbacks could easily be off the board before Carolina even gets to choose. Secondly, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule and his staff ran the American team during Senior Bowl week. And who was their top quarterback?

You guessed it.

Rhule showered praise on Jones throughout their time together.  

"The fact that he's here, I think, speaks a lot about who he is," the coach told reporters. "You get a chance to see his intelligence. He makes really quick decisions. He processes information quickly, highly intelligent. He's an alpha. He's the first guy on the practice field. He's the first guy in the runnings.

"He's got a lot of really, really, really strong traits."

More scenarios could develop once the draft actually begins.

The New England Patriots, Washington Football Team, Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints own the 15th, 19th, 20th, 24th and 28th overall picks, respectively. Each is in dire need of a young quarterback. An aggressive trade-up (or two) can place them in a position to swipe a preferred prospect.

Future projections will also play a part in this year's evaluation. North Carolina's Sam Howell, USC's Kedon Slovis, Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler and Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder have the potential to develop into top prospects ahead of the 2022 draft, but they've yet to reach said status, unlike Lawrence and Fields a year ago.

Always expect quarterbacks to come off the board sooner rather than later since the value of rookie contracts in regards to overall team building is priceless. It's far better for a team to take its shot and get in early on a young player than it is to miss out completely. Those franchises without a quality starting quarterback are at an automatic disadvantage every time they step on to the field.

History could well be made. Why?

"It's the most important position in any sport," Beane said.

                   

It's no secret that the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. And as such, it's the position that annually drives the most speculation and postulation from draftniks.

It's also no secret that in the 2021 draft class, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence is the consensus top player at the position and the presumptive No. 1 overall pick. After that, the waters muddy somewhat, but on more big boards than not, the next few signal-callers are some combination of BYU's Zach Wilson, Ohio State's Justin Fields and North Dakota State's Trey Lance.

All four are widely expected to be selected inside the top 15 on April 29.

But there's another guy who could easily find himself a first-round pick. A quarterback some have predicted could even go inside the top 10. Someone coming off a breakout season who led the Alabama Crimson Tide to a national championship.

Mac Jones isn't the biggest signal-caller in this year's draft. Or the fastest. He doesn't have the strongest arm. But he showed enough in Tuscaloosa last year to impress more than a few scouts.

And enough to be the ultimate wild card in Round 1.

Jones had a "lightbulb" season and then some for Alabama in 2020. In his first year as the full-time starter, the 6'3", 214-pounder had 4,500 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He completed 77.4 percent of his throws and posted a 203.1 passer rating on the way to an undefeated season while winning the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top quarterback.

Jones routinely made pinpoint throws into tight windows against some of the nation's top defenses. He lit up the Georgia Bulldogs for 417 yards and four scores, scorched the Florida Gators for 418 yards and five touchdowns in the SEC Championship Game, and dissected the Ohio State Buckeyes for 464 yards and five touchdowns to bring home the national title.

Those gaudy numbers surprised many, but the guy Jones succeeded at Alabama wasn't shocked. As a matter of fact, while speaking to Yahoo Sports, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa compared Jones to the greatest signal-caller to ever play:

"He's a sly kind of athletic person. He's a more mobile Tom Brady."@Tua joined @Eric_Edholm and offered up a scouting report on his former Alabama backup @MacJones_10.

Full interview ➡️ https://t.co/FMRYyVHATm pic.twitter.com/tV6tAxAz8W

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 26, 2021

Before you discount Tagovailoa's Jones-Tom Brady comparison as one former teammate talking up another, it's worth pointing out that while appearing on ESPN's First Take, Mel Kiper Jr. also compared Jones to the GOAT.

"Mac Jones is what Brady was," Kiper said, via Riley Gates of 247Sports. "Now, he's not going to be Brady, but he is that type of quarterback, style-wise."

No one is projecting Jones to cover an entire hand (and then some) in Super Bowl rings. But as Jordan Reid wrote at The Draft Network, he displays uncommon poise in the pocket:

"Jones' decision-making in all three levels of the field was well above average, as he's required to constantly perform multistep progressions. A sign of how well he understands how to funnel through them cleanly, he's not afraid to dump the ball to the running back as the last option in progressions. Like the long hand on an old-school analog clock, it's easy to see Jones get through his first, second, third and sometimes even fourth option in his reads. His ability to perform the process of elimination while going through progressions is an area that he's shown consistency with."

It has been a meteoric rise for Jones, who went from a fringe NFL prospect to a potential first-round selection. A number of experts don't think he will make it out of the top 10. In his latest mock draft, Kiper has the Carolina Panthers taking Jones at No. 8, and Chris Simms of NBC Sports doesn't believe he'll fall much beyond that.

"Mac Jones is a better prospect than Tua," Simms said on The Dan Patrick Show, via Keith Farner of Saturday Down South. "Mac Jones is going to go in the top 10, from just what I've seen right now. I'd be shocked. I think there's going to be four [quarterbacks] in the top eight. Just a base comment right now. … This Mac Jones guy, all he does is throw spirals, perfect throws, NFL-type throws. He can change his arm angle and do those type of things."

That's high praise. But for every scout who thinks Jones is a top-10 pick, there's another who believes the hype has gotten out of hand.

For starters, while Jones isn't necessarily undersized height-wise, he's on the smaller side relative to the other high-end prospects at his position this year. He's the least athletic of that group as well—opposing defenses don't have to worry about Jones pulling many zone-read keepers and peeling off a 40-yard scamper. While he is an accurate passer, his arm strength is average. And at Alabama, he benefited from playing behind one of the nation's best offensive lines surrounded by NFL-caliber skill-position talent.

As CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso wrote in labeling Jones a Day 2 prospect, if he isn't surrounded by a similarly impressive supporting cast in the pros, it may be difficult for him to come close to replicating his collegiate success:

"Could Jones land on a good team late in Round 1, sit for a season and ultimately become a successful passer? Yes. But he's going to need a lot of assets around him. Sturdy offensive line, deep and dynamic group of receivers, and an innovative offensive coordinator who's not going to ask Jones to make too many tight-window throws and will accentuate the screen and [run-pass option] games. Take any of those elements away, and Jones is likely to crumble because of his lack of supreme physical traits."

It's much more likely that Jones will go in the first half of Round 1 than on the draft's second day, as there are just too many teams in need of help under center. And it's not like there aren't question marks surrounding this year's other prospects, whether it's Fields' ability to make reads, Wilson's level of competition or Lance playing at the FCS level and missing most of the 2020 season.

But Jones has question marks of his own. His arm strength and athleticism are average at best, and it's fair to question how much of his 2020 success was because of DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris and Jaylen Waddle.

In the past few years, we have seen quarterbacks with question marks fall to the end of the first round and go on to enjoy fantastic success early in their careers (looking at you, Lamar Jackson). In that same draft, we saw another quarterback with different question marks get drafted inside the top 10 who is already on his fourth team (Josh Rosen).

Where on that spectrum Jones will land may well depend on where he starts his professional career—and which team is willing to roll the dice on the biggest wild card of Round 1.

Coming off of an undefeated season and a national title in 2020, the Alabama Crimson Tide have landed one of the top quarterbacks in the 2022 recruiting class.

Per Mike Rodak of AL.com, Simpson announced his decision to play for the Crimson Tide instead of Clemson, LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi. 

"It's very exciting to play with some of the best and be coached by some of the best and being able to be NFL ready is all I can ask for in a school," Simpson said.

Simpson is a 5-star prospect, the third-ranked pro-style quarterback and the No. 27 overall player in the 2022 class, per 247Sports composite rankings. 

Greg Biggins of 247Sports wrote this scouting report for Simpson:

"Won't wow you with his arm strength but it's functional and he can make all the throws on the field. Natural feel in the pocket. Senses pressure and does a great job in scramble situations. Keeps eyes down the field and can make a big throw downfield or just take off and run for plus yards. Creative in how he gets the ball out. Can throw from different arm angles and is just as dangerous outside the pocket as he is inside of it. Shows poise and toughness."

Simpson told Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports on Wednesday that he was "50-50" trying to decide between Alabama and Clemson. 

Both programs have done an outstanding job of developing quarterbacks, but Alabama ultimately won out in the battle between the two superpowers. 

Simpson will be following in the footsteps of recent successful players like Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones. He is going to have high expectations playing for one of the best teams in the nation, but the Crimson Tide always do a good job of surrounding their quarterbacks with elite talent. 

Alabama defeated Notre Dame and Ohio State in the College Football Playoff to complete a 13-0 season and win its 18th national title. 

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the first overall pick in the latest 2021 NFL mock draft from ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., but then things get wild.

A total of five signal-callers go inside the top 10 as a flurry of trades changes the landscape of the first round.

The Atlanta Falcons move up to No. 2 to select BYU's Zach Wilson, the San Francisco 49ers obtain the seventh pick to take Ohio State's Justin Fields, the Carolina Panthers take Alabama's Mac Jones at No. 8 and the New England Patriots slide up to No. 9 to grab North Dakota State's Trey Lance.

Kiper explained he broke his longstanding tradition of not trying to predict trades in the draft because the strength of this year's quarterback class, combined with the widespread need at the sport's most important position, is almost assuredly going to create movement atop the order.

It says a lot about how Lawrence is perceived that he's a virtual lock to land at No. 1 despite a QB group that features four other potential top-10 picks.

The 21-year-old Tennessee native arrived at Clemson as the top-rated prospect in the country in the 2018 recruiting class, and he lived up to every bit of those sky-high expectations.

He led the Tigers to a national championship as a true freshman and finished his collegiate career with 90 touchdown passes and just 17 interceptions in 40 games.

Now he'll look to bring consistent success to the Jags, who've reached the playoffs once since 2008.

The rest of the quarterback rankings are up for debate, with the biggest being whether Wilson or Fields will be the next one off the board.

Wilson was terrific in 2020, throwing 33 touchdowns with just three picks while leading the Cougars to an 11-1 record and a place in the College Football Playoff conversation until a late-season loss to 18th-ranked Coastal Carolina.

Fields led the Buckeyes to the national championship game before they fell short against Alabama. He connected on six touchdown passes in a semifinal clash with Lawrence and Clemson, finishing the season with 27 total TDs (22 passing and five rushing) in eight appearances.

It's too early to definitively say which of them will be selected first, as it appears fans can expect some chaos after Lawrence is selected to open the draft April 29.