| The odd man out now looks like the man with the plan. Mac Jones, the fifth quarterback taken in this year’s National Football League Draft, has flipped the script, outperforming the four surefire signal-callers selected before him. It is still early of course, with much still to be written in both this NFL campaign and, hopefully, the careers of Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Fields. Yet right here, right now, heading into the New England Patriots’ Thursday night clash with the Atlanta Falcons (8:20 p.m. ET on FOX), it looks like Jones is shaping up to be the best value, and quite possibly the best player, of that highly-touted crew of throwers. Remember how wild things got before the draft? Everyone knew Lawrence was going No. 1, but the San Francisco 49ers threw a wrench into the mix with a blockbuster deal to move up to No. 3, where they eventually took Lance. There was plenty of talk for a minute that QBs could even get selected with each of the top four picks, before the Falcons eventually took Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, while Jones had to sit and wait his turn, all the way to No. 15, before getting ushered to the stage to shake hands with commissioner Roger Goodell. It had been widely assumed that Jones, not Lance, was the intended recipient of the 49ers’ faith, having won a national championship during his junior year at Alabama. As it was, he was a part of a vaunted QB class, but very much the guy left trailing at the end of the pack. Not now. Sure, Jones has probably landed in the best situation of any of the new QBs but he has made the most of his opportunity with admirable style. Bill Belichick and the Patriots saw enough in camp to release veteran Cam Newton and after a couple of narrow losses in slipping to 2-4, New England has now reeled off four straight to be nipping at the heels of the Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC East. No performance was better than New England’s 45-7 rout over the Cleveland Browns this past weekend. Jones looked poised, assured and filled with confidence while leading drives of 99 and 92 yards while tossing three touchdowns. “Jones was brilliant,” wrote Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel. “Accurate. Commanding. Patient when needed, aggressive when possible. He controlled the offense. He looked off cornerbacks. He threw bullets and soft fades.” I’ll be the first to hold up my hand and say it is easier to be a fan, or a columnist, than it is to be a talent evaluator in the NFL. However, it is hard to shake the nagging sense that there are times when certain front offices overthink things when it comes to elite QBs coming out of college. For all the appropriate focus given to Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver DeVonta Smith at Alabama, Jones was as close to perfect as one can be, leading the Crimson Tide to 14-0, setting NCAA records for passing and completions, while averaging nearly 50 points per game. If he crept up on you, you weren’t looking hard enough. The second-guessing is surely in full flow now. Wilson suffered a knee injury back in Week 6 and momentary flavor-of-the-month Mike White’s stock fell drastically over the past two weeks. Lance is a work in progress and has shown some positive signs. Fields has been electrifying on occasion but has endured struggles, too. Lawrence has shown glimpses on a poor team with a rookie NFL coach. None have displayed what Jones has, and none of the teams have the dangerous look of the Patriots, with Belichick licking his lips in Foxborough, where a stacked offensive line and a resurgent defense has turned them into a team no one wants to play. Forget for a second, the teams that had decided they were going to get a QB in the draft and went for someone other than Jones. What about the ones that plumped for other positional options? The Falcons will need Matt Ryan’s replacement sooner or later, a fact highlighted by last Sunday’s shellacking at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. The Miami Dolphins opted against a QB with pick No. 6 but then spent months trying to wrangle Deshaun Watson out of Houston. The Detroit Lions are 0-8-1 after swapping out Matt Stafford for Jared Goff, the Carolina Panthers brought back Newton when Sam Darnold didn’t work out, the Denver Broncos have had mixed results from Teddy Bridgewater, while the Philadelphia Eagles have Jalen Hurts under center, for now. Jones, meanwhile, is rolling along. He has said that he wasn’t going to worry about the hype, and it’s an ethos that has served him well, especially in Belichick’s no-nonsense locker room. New England is a six-point favorite on Thursday, via FOX Bet. “You can’t worry about external factors,” Jones said. “You just have to focus on ‘here is what I’m supposed to do.’” Whatever he’s doing so far, it’s working spectacularly. Here’s what others have said … Colin Cowherd, The Herd: “He’s great at the podium and gets better every week. I feel like I’m watching a little Justin Herbert without quite the arm.” Nick Wright, First Things First: “I have to give Mac Jonessome credit. He was the best QB that didn’t throw for 200 yards. … The Patriots are more likely to miss the playoffs than win a playoff game. But this was more about the Browns. Bill Belichick made Baker Mayfield look like a rookie QB.” Bucky Brooks, FOX Sports NFL Analyst: “The Mac Jones-led offense is operating like a machine, with the efficient passer complementing a power-based running game that pops opponents in the mouth. The Patriots’ balanced offense drains the clock while chewing up yards on an assortment of old-school plays plucked straight from the early 2000s playbooks.” |
