Philadelphia Eagles: There’s no good case for drafting Mac Jones at six

Going into the 2020 NCAA season – as segmented and odd as it was – no one expected much from Alabama quarterback Mac Jones.

He was ranked the 24th best quarterback in the nation by Pro Football Focus (no subscription required) behind everyone from Texas’ Sam Ehlinger to Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr, and a player by the name of Layne Hatcher, who played at a totally real college that I’ve definitely heard of named “Ark” State, Jones was expected to look a whole lot more like Blake Sims than Tua Tagovailoa.

Fun fact: Hatcher, a three-star recruit out of Little Rock, actually lost a QB competition with Jones at Alabama and had to transfer to play for the Red Wolves to keep his NFL hopes alive.

But PFF wasn’t alone. No, Yahoo had Jones listed as their 16th ranked quarterback, 247 Sports had Jones ranked 20th overall, and CBS somehow thought Alabama’s quarterback was the 31sth best signal-caller in the land behind Temple’s Anthony Russo, who will only make it to the NFL if he buys a ticket to see a game some Sunday, Thursday, or Monday night.

And yet, here we are, in March of 2021, and Jones is a near-consensus first-round pick who was actually mocked to the Philadelphia Eagles by Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports in his most recent hypothetical draft.

Huh, I guess CBS Sports has finally come around to Jones as a prospect. Better late than never.

But is Wilson right? Should the Eagles be in the market for Nick Saban’s latest protege at six overall? Yeah, I don’t see it.

Drafting Mac Jones at six would be a mistake for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Like Kyler Murry, Mitch Trubisky, and Joe Burrow before him, Mac Jones is the textbook definition of a one-year NCAA wonder.

Though he technically spent three years at the University of Alabama, majoring in Business Communications, if you care, Jones didn’t see the field consistently until his sophomore season in 2019, where he saw reserve action in 11 games behind Tua Tagovailoa. Jones wasn’t bad per se, completing 68 percent of his passes for 1,503 yards and 14 touchdowns, but no one expected him to suddenly become a 4,500-yard passer as a full-time starter.

As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened.

With Tagovailoa in the NFL, Jones completed 311 of his 402 passing attempts for an even 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns versus four interceptions, effectively completing one of the most impressive seasons in Alabama history. The 22-year-old Texas product looked poised in the pocket, showcased incredible accuracy and enough arm strength to complete any play in the book, and was rewarded for his efforts with a first-round draft grade on his way to renouncing his final year of eligibility.

Was that the right call? If Jones is, in fact, a first-round pick, then yeah, most definitely, as even the 32nd overall pick receives a fully-guaranteed four-year contract worth around $10 million overall, but that doesn’t mean he’s a can’t miss prospect who will helm a franchise for years to come, let alone earn another multi-year, eight-figure contract.

Why? Allow me to elaborate.

While Jones has unquestionably proven himself a player capable of making any throw in a typical NFL offense, he does not have what one would consider a plus-NFL arm. Jones also doesn’t possess the athleticism many teams covet in a modern-day quarterback, possessing more of a traditional pocket-passer profile than the sort of Patrick Mahomes/Mac Jones playground-style built around scrambling behind the line while looking for an open receiver.

What Jones does possess, however, is a keen football mind and a cerebral feel for the game that made Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith prefer playing with Mac over Tua.

In the right scheme – aka Bill Belicheck’s scheme – Jones could run an offense with ease and be darn near plug-‘n-play, but does that mean he’s a fit for the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense under new head coach Nick Sirianni?

I’d venture to say no.

Now granted, Sirianni never coordinated an offense with the same quarterback twice over his three-year tenure under Frank Reich, and we’ve never actually seen him call plays before. Maybe Sirianni would actually like a quarterback who runs his offense, can make reads at the line of scrimmage, and occasionally pick up a few yards on a design run TB12-style.

Jones also has a pre-existing relationship with Jalen Hurts from their shared time with Alabama, so in theory, having those two in the same locker/quarterback room probably wouldn’t generate too much of a controversy.

If the Eagles genuinely have Jones ranked higher than Hurts, and other quarterbacks like Trey Lance, who could still be on the board depending on how things shake out, then they should 100 percent take him. I just don’t see that happening.

For all of the detractors who say Hurts isn’t a strong-armed quarterback, there’s an argument to be made that Jones has even less firepower on the deep ball. Jones also benefited from having arguably the best receiving corps in all of college football in both 2019 and 2020, with four future first-round picks to throw to versus zero for Hurts at Oklahoma and one with the Eagles (Jalen Reagor).

While some will point to Jones’ winning ways and leadership abilities as a reason to target him in the first round, both Nick Saban and Lincoln Riley spoke just as glowingly about Hurts coming out of college, with the former calling his former quarterback “as fine a person as we’ve ever had in the program.”

Factor in Hurts’ athleticism, and it’s hard to see any area of the game where Jones is a better overall prospect than what the Eagles have already under contract, with an even lower ceiling to boot.

Now to be fair, that doesn’t mean Jones is a bad player or should be off the Eagles’ board entirely. I would happily draft Jones in the second round and wouldn’t bat an eye if Roseman used his second-round pick on yet another Alabama quarterback; I just don’t think he’s worth a top-10 pick, especially when everyone from Devonta Smith, to Jaylen Waddle, Ja’Marr Chase, Kyle Pitts, and Penei Sewell could still be on the board.

Alternatively, a quarterback like Stanford’s Davis Mills could potentially still be on the board in the fourth round, and he has a little bit of Jones in his game but with a better touch on the deep ball. If the Eagles want to target a more traditional pocket passer with natural arm talent like Mills or Arkanasas’ Feleipe Franks, they could very much be in play for far less draft capital.

When you have as many holes as the Eagles without much money to fill them, you have to prioritize getting the best player available in every round, even if that means passing on a quarterback with starter traits for a developmental prospect with no guaranteed path to the field.

Will the Philadelphia Eagles walk away from the 2021 NFL Draft with a quarterback? I’m going to say yes. Even if they sign or trade for another QB to compete with Jalen Hurts, I fully expect Howie Roseman to add another cog to the quarterback factory with one of his eight picks. But should the team reach for a quarterback like Mac Jones with the sixth overall pick when there will unquestionably be higher-graded quarterbacks on the board? Yeah, I don’t think that’s the best allocation of the Eagles’ assets.