ESPN football analyst Mel Kiper Jr. projected Alabama quarterback Mac Jones to the Carolina Panthers at pick No. 8 in his latest mock draft. Speaking to reporters on a media conference call Monday, Kiper said he doesn’t see Jones falling past the 2021 NFL Draft’s 15th pick.
This was in response to a question about Jones benefiting from having talent around him, which is taken into account for some quarterbacks but shouldn’t penalize a guy like Jones.
“I think top 15, I think New England at 15 would be the furthest he would be able to drop,” Kiper said. “A lot of these quarterbacks these days have great talent around them. Joe Burrow had more talent than anybody. Did that affect how he played this year at Cincinnati when he looked like a definite franchise quarterback? To me, you could look at different guys. … You look at every case individually, but you can’t penalize a guy for just being the quarterback at Alabama or being the quarterback at LSU or Ohio State or wherever it may be.
“They’re gonna have talent around them. And some guys obviously have less. … Mac Jones had an awesome array of talent around him, but to be as accurate as he was at all levels, to be able to make something out of nothing like he did in that Ohio State championship game in a key play in the football game when he manipulated the pocket, moved around a little bit and then sensed and felt pressure very effectively and made an accurate throw. To me, leadership, competitiveness, what he did at the Senior Bowl, all that is gonna make him a top-15 pick.”
Jones finished his first full season as Alabama’s starter with 4,500 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 77.4 percent of his throws. Jones led the nation in passing yards, completion percentage, passer rating (203.06) and yards per attempt (11.2) and was also second in passing touchdowns and third in passing yards per game (346.2).
His impressive redshirt junior campaign and strong showing during Senior Bowl practices are why Jones is considered one of the top draft prospects. But Kiper shared what is holding Jones back from being in the conversation for a top-five selection in the upcoming draft.
“The accuracy at over 77 percent this year is the reason why he goes from a late-round pick like we were talking about back when the season began to a probable top 10-15 pick,” Kiper said. “The only criticism right now and the only reason why people are maybe not pushing him up there as the second-best quarterback in this draft is because of the lack of speed and a lack of top athleticism. That’s it. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a heck of a quarterback.
“And then also the 17 starts is the other thing. Only 17 career starts is a dangerous number. You want it to be around 23-25. He’s at 17. Seventeen starts plus the lack of great dual-threat ability.”
With no NFL combine, Jones’ opportunity to go through drills and testing will be at the Crimson Tide’s pro day on March 23. But could Jacksonville, Fla., native continue to improve his stock with a strong showing in front of NFL personnel? “It’ll be hard,” according to Kiper.
“He’s already way up there,” Kiper said. “I think now he wants to just maintain. I mean, he’s shown enough. The concern would be have we moved him up too high. That’s always the thing — how high do you move a player that started out the year with a third-, fourth-round grade at best when the season began because he only had the four starts. You were waiting to see could he build on the four starts that we saw there? And he did. We did the same thing with Burrow. Burrow had a sixth-, seventh-round grade going into the year, and he ends up the No. 1 pick.
“You’ve gotta adjust to the way guys are playing and circumstances and what went on there where this was his first opportunity to be the full-time starter and he took advantage of it. But the 17 starts and the concerns we talked about are the reason you’ve gotta temper your enthusiasm a bit, but I still maintain I don’t see him getting past New England at 15. I think he certainly could go in the top 10. Right now, you’re in a maintaining mode, not an elevating mode.
“His Senior Bowl week and the season he had and the way he played in the championship game and all that is enough to say, boy, he boosted his stock probably as far as he could. Now, after what he did Senior Bowl week, just try to make sure you don’t fall back, you try to just stay where you are. And I think right now, that’s top 10-15.”
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