Quote:
Originally Posted by Chromeburn
You start to quibble those inches but they do matter. He isn’t Drew Brees short but he might get more balls knocked down than others. Although arm length and extension on throws matter also. He does throw with good anticipation so he can put some air under his throws. Plops them down into the wr basket over the CB.
I think his feet seem heavy, he navigates the pocket well. But he will stay in the pocket. I don’t see him bootlegging much or leaving the pocket to throw like a Allen. Mahomes has slow 40 speed but I think he is a better athlete and has the arm to throw accurately on the run. A quicker twitch. Even Drew Brees has juked a guy here and there. But I don’t see that quick twich reflexes in Jones. He diagnoses and gets rid of the ball very fast when under duress. I think that is his strength.
Incidentally, Ballard has said he likes this QB class.
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You're splitting hairs with the height thing. This prompted me to go look it up again, and everything I could find said 6'3"-6'5" is ideal QB height, fwiw. Also, I don't know what film you're watching, but you make Mac Jones sound like Drew Bledsoe when he's not. I think there may be some situations where you're dinging his athleticism because he made the smart decision rather than the athletic one. One example of that came against Ohio State where he started to take off to run for a first down, but instead stopped and flipped a short pass to Jaylen Waddle for a first down. Could he have run for that first down himself? Possibly, but even were he a DeShaun Watson level of athlete at the QB position, he's not the athlete that Jaylen Waddle is, and Waddle outrunning the LB is a much surer bet.
Where we certainly agree is his ability to throw accurately with anticipation and place balls where only his receiver can catch them. Any tape of Mac Jones you put on will have at least 5 throws where Jones releases the football at the exact moment the DB turns to run with the WR, and most of them will go for a big play. Perhaps my favorite throw of his all year had this in spades and looked like something an NFL veteran would do. Again, it was against Ohio State, Alabama had the ball at about the 40 yard line and Ohio State lined up in an obvious Cover 3 shell. Devonta Smith lined up in the slot and ran a deep cross from the left hash to the right corner of the endzone. At the snap, Jones immediately turns his head left, which draws the single high safety who was shading to the offense's right hash to drift to the left, which left Tuf Borland, a LB, on an island against Devonta Smith. The instant Jones looks to Smith he sees the matchup he wants and throws a rainbow to Smith in stride for an easy 6 untouched, ball travels 35-40 air yards. I'll grant you that Devonta Smith is a special player, but I love that play so much for Mac Jones because it's how you win in the NFL. A QB that can manipulate a defense with his eyes to create a 1 on 1 matchup between a LB and a slot WR in the NFL is elite, and creating matchups like LB covering slot WR is how offenses win on Sundays.