The latest quarterback to come out of the University of Alabama has found a new home with the New England Patriots as they selected Mac Jones with the 15th pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
Mac Jones looks to be the quarterback of the future for the Pats even though they re-signed Cam Newton to another one-year deal. Interesting move considering that their playstyles couldn’t be more different. While I can make comments about how the Patriot’s offense is probably going to be worse than the offense Jones is used to at Alabama, I’ll focus on what Jones is bringing to the table for the Patriots and his future value.
Those College Days
Following on the heels of Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, all eyes were on Mac Jones for his junior season at Alabama. With the pressure on, Jones showed that he was the real deal leading the NCAA in passing percentage, yards, passing yards per attempt and he finished second in passing touchdowns. Jones had 41 passing touchdowns to only four interceptions while leading Alabama to another national championship. In said championship game against Ohio State, Jones had his best game of the season, and his career completing, 36 of 45 passes for 464 yards and five touchdowns.
The Mac Daddy
Keep in mind as I hype up Mac Jones that we only have one season of games to look at for him since he finally became the starter his junior year at Bama. According to PFF, for quarterbacks with at least 378 dropbacks (21 quarterbacks fit this metric), Jones had the second shortest time to throw at 2.51 seconds. Despite all of the jokes about Jones having a better team at Alabama than he will with New England, Jones is accustomed to thinking quickly and making decisions at a fast pace and he has shown that he can be extremely successful. Jones’ accuracy in college needs to be given more attention because he only had 95 incompletions the entire season and had the highest NFL quarterback rating for any NCAA quarterback that had at least 34 dropbacks last season (Jones had 428). Only BYU’s Zach Wilson was graded as a better passer by PFF and he completed 66 fewer passes than Jones did.
PFF’s “Big Time Throws” statistic refers to a pass that has excellent timing and/or ball location and it usually is either thrown into a super tight window or is a deeper pass than normal. Jones was tied for third in the NCAA for big-time throws with 32. For reference, Cam Newton had the third-fewest BTT passes for NFL quarterbacks with at least 342 dropbacks. Newton also had eight touchdown passes with 10 interceptions last season so Jones’ accuracy will be a breath of fresh air for the Pats.
Rookie Draft Value
Behind bigger names like Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, Mac Jones should NOT be going in the early part of the first round, or really the first round of rookie drafts at all short of superflex leagues. The future is bright for him in New England to try his best to be the next Tom Brady, but the Patriots brought Cam Newton back on a one-year deal and Newton isn’t known for his passing anymore. Newton beats defenses with his leagues, and Mac Jones rushing attempts usually consisted of kneel-downs in the fourth quarter of Alabama blowout wins. Jones should start games for the Patriots at some point this season, but without knowing his place on the depth chart, he should be no higher than the QB3 taken in your rookie drafts. I think his surrounding teammates don’t seem as favorable as those of Trey Lance in San Francisco or Justin Fields in Chicago, but I think Jones as the QB4/5 in the second round is where you should expect him to fall.