Ideal team-prospect fits for the 2021 NFL Draft

NFL Team: New England Patriots – Mac Jones, QB, Alabama

Mac Jones

I don’t like going with the general public, but Mac Jones to New England just makes too much sense.

There is a significant drop-off in talent at the quarterback position after the big four, but Jones is superior in some regards to all of them when it comes to football IQ and diagnosing skills. Moreover, after him, the drop-off is actually much more immense, in my opinion.

And while you can argue what the Patriots need from that position, in terms of potentially more of a dual-threat to balance out their lack of offensive weapons. Bill Belichick, in his own words (according to his scouting notes), is looking for a quarterback that makes good decisions, is a real competitor, someone his team can look up to, values accuracy over a guy with a cannon, has good field awareness and judgement and is sound fundamentally.

You could take this and use it as a scouting report for Mac Jones, to be honest. Of course, he wouldn’t nearly have the abundance of weapons in New England as he did in Tuscaloosa. But they could still add that one-speed threat to open things up, and Jones always has been more about winning through system over individual players.

He can make those quick decisions, but also doesn’t shy away from sliding his feet and standing in there for a receiver to break open. Josh McDaniels should be able to work with and trust him early on.

With recent reports coming out, the Patriots might not be able to just sit there at 15 and let Jones come to them, as Mike Tannenbaum reported number eight is the floor. But I have also heard him say somebody should trade up to four to select him, which is pretty crazy for me. So let’s see how this whole thing plays out.