Former NFL head coach ranks Mac Jones ahead of Trevor Lawrence
By SDS Staff
Published:
Trevor Lawrence is widely considered the top quarterback prospect (and many analysts’ top overall prospect) for the 2021 NFL Draft. One former NFL head coach, however, ranks Alabama’s Mac Jones as QB1 with Lawrence as QB3.
June Jones, who coached the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers, told Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports that he ranks Jones, Zach Wilson and Lawrence as the top three quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft.
June Jones values Mac Jones as the draft’s QB1 because of the former Alabama starter’s deep-ball accuracy.
“Mac’s deep-ball accuracy is probably the best that I have graded in my years of coaching quarterbacks,” the former coach told Edholm. “He’s almost at 55 percent at over 20 yards, which is unbelievable.”
Junes Jones said that if he were in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ position with the No. 1 overall pick, he would trade it and draft a QB with a later pick.
“He’s a very talented kid, don’t get me wrong, and I think he’s a winner,” June Jones said of Lawerence. “He can do things that other quarterbacks can’t do, such as run.
“But what I’ve noticed is, when you see him drop back and throw, let’s say, a 9-route down the field, on those completions that he had over 20 yards, a lot of times his receivers make great plays on those balls. And they weren’t right on the money, they weren’t right in stride. The receivers sometimes had to work for the deep ball with him than what (you’d expect from) a great quarterback.”
Mac Jones being drafted by his hometown team would make for a great story, but it would come as a huge surprise if Urban Meyer’s Jacksonville Jaguars drafted a quarterback other than Lawrence or Wilson. We’ll see what happens on April 29.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
