2021 NFL Draft: Jets, Panthers fill QB need in three-round mock draft
2021 NFL Draft: Round 1, 19th overall
QB. player. 58. Pick Analysis. Alabama. Mac Jones. 19. Scouting Report
The more that I think about it, the more I like the fit of Mac Jones to the Washington Football Team. Personally, I would not select Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but I do not absolutely hate it for Washington.
This organization has done a nice job of building a strong core of players on both sides of the ball. Washington is led by its strong defensive attack, more specifically their incredibly talented offensive line. Offensively, the trio of Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson and Logan Thomas is worth getting excited about and the offensive line is a strong overall unit. Washington is far from a perfect football team, but they legitimately could be a quarterback away from being competitive.
Ideally, Washington would be able to use this No. 19 pick in a trade for a strong veteran quarterback. However, using it to select Jones is not a bad backup option.
Jones is coming off of an incredible 2020 season where he led Alabama to an impressive National Championship run. While this was not a case of a quarterback putting his team on his back all season long and leading them to success, he did play well throughout the season and deserves credit for that.
Jones is an extremely smart quarterback prospect who is never going to force the ball into bad situations. He is also an extremely accurate passer who can throw his receivers open and throw balls on a dime at any level of the field. While Jones does not have great natural arm talent, he does have enough arm to hit the deep ball and has the ability to place those deep passes well with great touch and accuracy.
The biggest concern with Jones’ game is his lack of mobility at the quarterback position. Jones is never going to make much noise with his legs and young traditional pocket passers have not had much recent success in the NFL. Quarterbacks who can make plays with their arm and legs are all the rage and Jones simply will never be much of a rushing threat from the position.
With his lack of mobility, Jones has a more narrow margin of error than other top quarterback prospects in this class. That being said, if a team can put enough talent around him, Jones has a chance to be successful at the next level. The Washington Football Team is at least close to becoming the team that could stack enough talent around Jones to make this a successful move.