Clint Lamb
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ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had quite the comparison for former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones. It’s one we’ve heard before, but that doesn’t make it any less shocking.
According to Mike Reiss with ESPN, Kiper believes there’s some Tom Brady in Jones’ game.
“I hate to say, but he kind of has a little bit of [Tom] Brady in him,” Kiper said, via ESPN. “I’m not saying he’s ever going to be Tom Brady. He wouldn’t be close, probably. But he has that competitiveness, and he’s so smart — he picked that offense up [at the Senior Bowl] like it was nothing. Other quarterbacks were struggling with the verbiage and — boom! — he was in and out of the huddle quicker than anybody I’ve ever seen.
“Then he sees the field. He’s tremendously accurate to all levels. He doesn’t have the ‘wow’ arm, like Brady didn’t either coming into the league. And like Brady, he’s not real mobile, not a runner. But biding time, slipping and sliding, he did it in the championship game. So there are some similarities there.”
On the surface, it seems like bad practice to compare a college quarterback to a seven-time Super Bowl champion. Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and we still don’t even know if Jones will have success at the NFL level.
Still, Kiper wasn’t comparing their greatness. He was comparing their intangibles, and there are similarities. Reading his quote, there isn’t one thing in there I disagree with.
The difference is Brady had that mountain-sized chip on his shoulder after falling to the sixth round. It’s possible — likely even — that Jones goes somewhere between No. 8 and No. 15. At this point, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him taken higher than that.
Will that create the competitive drive needed for Jones to have even a fraction of the success that Brady’s had? That’s the million dollar question. With a lack of mobility, he might need that extra drive in today’s NFL.
I believe he’s got a bright future, personally.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
I agree with Kiper’s eval of Jones. Sees the field incredibly well, gets the ball out quickly, and is very accurate. While someone like Wentz has more physical talent, he doesn’t compare with Jones ability to recognize defensive alignments. Of course, Jones needs to be able to do it in the pros. We’ll see.