The Athletic: NFL Draft confidential: Coaches discuss Mac Jones’ rise, Justin Fields shade, sleepers galore

[dentfan]

This was originally posted here:


The Athletic: NFL Draft confidential: ‘People say he’s not athletic.’ Coaches discuss Mac Jones’ rise, Justin Fields shade, sleepers galore

One of the reasons I pay for The Athletic, and I think you should too, is their insider access. They regularly publish articles with anonymous quotes from NFL coaches and scouts. Here are some highlights from one of their most recent articles.

• On the rise of Zach Wilson-

I definitely have concerns about the level of competition. This guy goes from just being a guy in 2019, and now all of a sudden he’s being talked about as a top-5 pick? It happens, but he’s not playing against an SEC defensive front or a Pac-12 or Big 12 front. A lot of his throws are space throws. You don’t see him in a tight pocket a lot of times, and our league is a tight-pocket league. He’s not the biggest guy, but he has an arm — he can really rip it. I love the talent but there’s a lot of risk there to me.

The good with Zach Wilson is really good, but the bad can be really, really bad. And when he goes to a bad team like the Jets and he’s trying to win games, those are big concerns. To me he’s kinda like Patrick Mahomes coming out of college. People think now about Mahomes as the Super Bowl-winning quarterback and how great he is now, but coming out of Texas Tech, he was not this surefire guy. He was uber-talented arm-wise, and he does a lot of stuff that is really sexy now, but he threw a lot of bad picks, and his decision-making, I thought, was really inconsistent. With Wilson, you see a lot of, ‘Why would you even try that?’ When he gets to the NFL he’s got to retool his game, and you’re gonna have to let him learn what he can throw and can’t throw, but unlike Mahomes, Zach won’t have Andy Reid to coach him and a year behind Alex Smith to learn from.

• On Trey Lance

To me, he has the biggest upside of anyone in this draft. He played one game this year against FCS competition and was 50 percent and missed some throws. If you’re a first-round pick, you don’t miss that throw to a wide-open guy in the flat. He has tight upper body mechanics and some touch issues because he doesn’t separate well; he struggles to change arm angles some. From watching his pro day, I think he’s cleaned up a little bit.

• On the Justin Fields hate

He’s the one guy that for whatever reason people are taking shots at, whether they’re trying to get him pushed down the board, or who knows why; he’s the one that everyone wants to bully up on now. He didn’t play good against Northwestern; he played great against Clemson, and look at his ’19 season, he was phenomenal. He is a first-round talent. He is way more polished than Lance.

• On the Mac Jones Bandwagon

I am driving the bandwagon. I noticed something last year after Tua Tagovailoa got hurt and Mac went in and they stopped running RPOs and started calling dropback stuff, I was like, ‘Oh, they trust him.’ But he’s more than just that. I think he is the best thrower of the football by a lot. Zach Wilson is freaky; but he’s not hitting people in stride on time. Mac is processing. He’s accurate. He’s layering it. He has pinpoint accuracy and throws with anticipation. Those people who say all he did was throw to guys who were wide open and threw from a clean pocket, turn on the A&M, Georgia or the Michigan and Auburn games from last year where he got the shit beat out of him. He’s getting hit and he’s getting moved. People say he’s not athletic, but what are we talking about? Just because he looks bad without a T-shirt doesn’t mean he’s a bad athlete because he has baby fat. I love him. He was substantially better in the interviews than all of the other quarterbacks.

• Is Kyle Pitts the biggest no-brainer in the draft?

Pitts is a unicorn. It’s rare to get a guy that freaky that size that didn’t flip to defensive end. It’s easier to rush the quarterback than play tight end. He’s (Raiders tight end) Darren Waller but a little more natural. He’s got great hand-eye coordination; great length. He didn’t have a drop last year. Only four of his catches didn’t go for a touchdown or first down. What I really love is he didn’t have to play last year and he still would be a top-10 pick, and that they’re down 20 vs Bama, and he’s playing his ass off, trying to get them back into it, and he does. That stuff spoke a lot.

• On the WR Class

I think it’s not close among these receivers. Chase is way better than the rest of them, and it’s a good class. He’s like a much faster Anquan Boldin.

• On Rashod Bateman

He’s right there as a pure route runner with DeVonta. He’s smooth. I just wish he ran a little faster.

The article is MUCH longer and gets into individual players at the most important positions on each side of the ball, but I didn't want to create TOO much of a wall of text. Just wanted to throw some quotes out to generate a little discussion.

 

[Montucky]

A lot of teams are going to draft a quarterback and wish they had drafted Kyle Pitts instead. The guy is going to zoom right to the top five, maybe top three, tight ends in the league.

 

[SD Bears]

And that is why SF is taking Jones.

 

[Montucky]

And that is why SF is taking Jones.

This quote particularly

He was substantially better in the interviews than all of the other quarterbacks.

Seems to explain the timing of the trade-up very well. That said, I still think its going to be Trey Lance.

 

[SD Bears]

This quote particularly


Seems to explain the timing of the trade-up very well. That said, I still think its going to be Trey Lance.

Will be interesting to see. Shanahan built his system around QBs that are traditional drop-back passers. Jones fits that mold. But Shanny might be due for a change...