For QB Jones, playing for 49ers ‘would be awesome’
It’s almost as if Mac Jones has to apologize for being functional.
The Alabama quarterback, as it pertains to firstround possibilities in the NFL Draft, is at the shallow end of the gene pool. He doesn’t make trickshot throws like Brigham Young’s Zach Wilson and can’t move like Ohio State’s Justin Fields. He’s missing the raw skill of North Dakota State’s 6-foot-4, 227-pound Trey Lance.
And none of the quarterbacks in the Class of 2021 measure up to consensus No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence of Clemson.
Yet there are whispers, gradually getting louder, that Jones could be the target at No. 3 overall for the 49ers, who moved up from No. 12 to secure their quarterback of the future.
Which would be fine by Jones, considering he was viewed as a mid-tolate first-round possibility until very recently. Jones said he was encouraged to hear 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch were scheduled to be at his second pro day Tuesday for a closer look.
“I’ve watched their tape,” Jones said Monday during a video press conference. “Obviously, they run a lot of wide zone. They’ve also got a great fullback so they can run power and they do a bunch of good play passes off of that.”
Jones said the 49ers use similar motions to those used at Alabama.
“That’s all stuff I’m familiar with,” Jones said. “Obviously it’s a quarterback-friendly offense and they have great playmakers there.”
No less an authority than NFL analyst Chris Simms, a close friend and former college teammate of Shanahan at Texas, who tweeted Jones was the likely pick after the 49ers moved up to No. 3 and repeated it on ProFootballTalk Live.
“I think within that Mac Jones is NFL-ready right now, and I think that’s the kind of guy you trade up to No. 3 to get,” Simms said.
Shanahan, however, said at a 49ers press conference Monday that while Simms is a friend, he’s really not an authority at all when it comes to what they’ll do on April 29.
“Anyone who you’re friends with who speaks in the media and people think you’re friends with them, that means you’re not allowed to tell them anything,” Shanahan said. “That’s why he doesn’t even ask me about stuff because if he does ask something and I tell him, then he can’t say it.”
In other words, Simms, like everyone else, is guessing. Former NFL executiveturned-analyst Mike Lombardi also liked the idea of Jones to the 49ers.
Jones, at 6-foot-3, 214 pounds, put up video game numbers at Alabama en route to a national championship, completing 77.4 percent of his passes for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and four interceptions. But therein lies the problem with assessing Jones. His teammates are so good, it’s not obvious whether they were carrying him or he was carrying them.