At least one NFL team has Zach Wilson ranked as the best QB in the draft. Update: Multiple teams not only one!

[TokyoJetsFan]

Note: it is June Jones who hasen't been in the NFL in decades...think he had a good run at Hawaii though

2021 NFL draft: Trevor Lawrence, QB3? That's how one former NFL coach grades him

It's hard to find a lot of credentialed evaluators willing to go on the record to suggest that Clemson's Trevor Lawrence isn't the best QB prospect in the 2021 NFL draft.

But we found one who doesn't even have Lawrence has one of his two best QB prospects this year.

June Jones, the former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers, has watched many of the top quarterbacks available for the 2021 NFL draft. He hasn't seen them all. But he's seen enough of Lawrence to be less smitten with the overwhelming favorite for the No. 1 overall pick to know that if it was Jones' pick at that spot, he'd be cooking up some other plans.

"Hey, I do like him. But I would not take him with the first pick, though," Jones told Yahoo Sports by phone from his home in Honolulu. "Everyone is saying that’s the guy at 1. But I would trade that pick and take one of these other quarterbacks down the line."

The two quarterbacks he prefers? Well, one is by now nearly a household name — at least among those dialed into the NFL draft process. BYU's Zach Wilson, who could be the second overall choice to the New York Jets, is higher on his pecking order than Lawrence.

But Wilson isn't Jones' No. 1 QB prospect this year. He's got Alabama's Mac Jones up top.

We had follow-up questions on Lawrence, Wilson and Jones. And he had answers.

What could hold Trevor Lawrence back

We asked Jones: Why is he so (relatively) low on Lawrence?

"He’s a very talented kid, don’t get me wrong, and I think he’s a winner," Jones said. "He can do things that other quarterbacks can’t do, such as run.

"But what I’ve noticed is, when you see him drop back and throw, let’s say, a 9-route down the field, on those completions that he had over 20 yards, a lot of times his receivers make great plays on those balls. And they weren’t right on the money, they weren’t right in stride. The receivers sometimes had to work for the deep ball with him than what (you’d expect from) a great quarterback.

Jones isn't wrong about that fact, as Lawrence had a strong completion percentage overall this season (69.2) and hit on a respectable 51 percent of his passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the air. And Jones does make a fair point about Lawrence's deeper passes not being quite as accurate and limiting his receivers' yards-after-catch potential.

"He obviously can work on it and improve it. But right now, I kind of like a couple of other guys better," Jones said.

Are they ball watchers? Or a receiver watchers?

One of the things June Jones looks for with quarterbacks when they're throwing the ball vertically is their eyes. Jones' No. 1 criteria for whether he thinks a quarterback can achieve greatness in the NFL is accuracy, and Jones believes that a QB's eye behavior holds a critical key in that.

It's something that started when Jones was backing up Steve Bartkowski in Atlanta, noticing that Bartkowski often would watch the ball during its flight and not the receiver to whom he was throwing. And he was just overthrowing his receivers, sometimes by a foot or less.

After Jones made that suggestion to his teammate, Bartkowski's deep ball became one of the best in the NFL in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And when Jones went on to coach Warren Moon, the same thing kept happening: Moon would barely overthrow his man and miss out on a long gain.

The improvement came when Moon focused on keeping his eyes on the receiver, not the ball.

"The great ones never naturally take their eyes off the receiver," Jones said. "It’s a difficult thing to change. But you can change it. Bart and Moon both said it (helped them), and it was something (run-and-shoot offense pioneer) Mouse (Davis) told me years ago. It just makes a difference."

Jones has tried to watch Lawrence's eyes to see if that's the issue, noticing that even on his long completions, those throws could be more accurate. Based on what he's seen on tape, it's tough for Jones to say definitively.

"You really need to watch the quarterback up close to tell that," he said. "If I saw that with him, it would be the first thing I work on with him.

"It's such a simple thing, but you almost never hear coaches talk about that. That one thing is more valuable for evaluation on (quarterbacks), and some people hardly are aware of it."

Why so high on Mac Jones?

No, it's not just a surname thing. June Jones believes Mac Jones — who started a mere 17 games at Alabama — is the best quarterback prospect in this class because of his downfield accuracy.

Many evaluators Yahoo Sports have talked to have lamented Mac Jones' lack of dual-threat ability. He's simply not a scrambler of any note, and his athletic traits (including raw arm strength) almost certainly will grade as average to below-average compared to other prospects in this class and the NFL's upper-tier QBs.

But June Jones doesn't see it that way.

"Mac's deep-ball accuracy is probably the best that I have graded in my years of coaching quarterbacks," June Jones said. "He’s almost at 55 percent at over 20 yards, which is unbelievable."

Fact check: True. Last season, Jones hit on 58.9 percent of his passing attempts 20-plus yards downfield. And factoring in dropped passes, Pro Football Focus had Jones at an adjusted completion percentage on those attempts at a scalding 67.1.

Interestingly, Wilson was higher than Jones in both metrics — 62.5 percent and 67.9, respectively. But both of those quarterbacks had exactly 56 such attempts last season, and Mac Jones threw for more yards (1,355 to 1,286) on deep balls in 2020.

June Jones believes it's that little difference, making slightly more accurate throws downfield, that bumps Mac Jones a notch ahead of Zach Wilson.

"(Mac Jones) is a receiver watcher," June Jones said. "I could tell watching him on television when they had the right camera angle. And I really think that is huge for him. It's how he naturally throws the deep ball."

With this level of hot take, June Jones understands he's going to be very much in the minority on his Mac-over-Trevor take. But ask him if he cares.

"Some people are going to have a problem with me saying that because he’s only done it one year, yadda yadda ya," June Jones said. "But I saw enough in one year where you say, if that’s his only year, wow, that guy is going to be something else."

Ohio State's Justin Fields and North Dakota State's Trey Lance both intrigued June Jones when he watched them, but he couldn't get over some of the missed passes both had on tape. He likes both as developmental quarterbacks but believes the other three should be rated higher.

The idea of Lance going in Round 1, and potentially high in Round 1, isn't something Jones is keen on.

"In a perfect world, you draft him late second round or third round and develop," he said. "You can work with him, and you might have something. The tools are all there. But I don’t know how anyone could know that he’s worthy of being taken high. He certainly could become that great quarterback in time, but he's not there."

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-draft-trevor-lawrence-qb-3-thats-how-one-former-nfl-coach-grades-him-205523234.html

 

 

[Patriot Killa]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:19 PM, Jetlife33 said:

I started falling into the Wilson hype a bit, but as I’ve started really watching some tape on Wilson and fields I’m finding myself leaning towards fields for some of the reasons stated in my previous post. Also, the level of competition fields was facing was much stronger compared to Wilson. I know there are stigmas for an Ohio state QB, and at the same time for Wilson there have been recent success stories for QB’s coming out of smaller schools. I just feel like when I watch the tape Fields is better. 

I’d rather my QB have a smaller frame than a slow processor. That’s just me. I think one of those contributes to being a bust more than the other.

[Paradis]

For the record I think this is a bigger indictment on Lawrence than it is a boost for Wilson. 
 

but still—

 

[Patriot Killa]

4 minutes ago, TokyoJetsFan said:

We asked Jones: Why is he so (relatively) low on Lawrence?

"He’s a very talented kid, don’t get me wrong, and I think he’s a winner," Jones said. "He can do things that other quarterbacks can’t do, such as run.

 

lol huh

[TokyoJetsFan]

4 minutes ago, Patriot Killa said:

lol huh

I cant remember, but i'm pretty sure June Jones wanted Ryan Leaf over Peyton

[riggy001]

4 hours ago, GreekJet said:

I don’t believe any of these fake draft people. Only Mel Kiper and Todd McShay are credible. 

You are kidding right, they are awful.

[Patriot Killa]

8 minutes ago, TokyoJetsFan said:

I cant remember, but i'm pretty sure June Jones wanted Ryan Leaf over Peyton

would make sense given that quote I just read lol

[bitonti]

47 minutes ago, Patriot Killa said:

I’d rather my QB have a smaller frame than a slow processor. That’s just me. I think one of those contributes to being a bust more than the other.

the jets picking at 2 should be able to find a player without an obvious fatal flaw 

not just reach on whoever QB looks good in shorts 

[Patriot Killa]

6 minutes ago, bitonti said:

the jets picking at 2 should be able to find a player without an obvious fatal flaw 

not just reach on whoever QB looks good in shorts 

funny, never watched game film on a QB in shorts before.

[Jetsfan80]

Just now, Patriot Killa said:

funny, never watched game film on a QB in shorts before.

@joewilly12 has.  

[slimjasi]

What if I told you one of those teams was the Jets

[bitonti]

3 minutes ago, Patriot Killa said:

funny, never watched game film on a QB in shorts before.

was that game film from Wilson? College football games? I thought it was romper room mountain west play time 

[Grandy]

I've heard a lot of people raise (valid) concern over the competition that he played, but not a lot of discussion about him perhaps playing on a weak team himself.

[Jetsfan80]

7 minutes ago, Grandy said:

I've heard a lot of people raise (valid) concern over the competition that he played, but not a lot of discussion about him perhaps playing on a weak team himself.

 

All I see is Fields above Lawrence.  Oh, and Kyle Trask putting in serious work.  @JiF

[Grandy]

4 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

 

All I see is Fields above Lawrence.  Oh, and Kyle Trask putting in serious work.  @JiF

On the real, I don't see a big difference between the talent of Fields and Lawrence. I know that amount of starts and extreme hype will keep Lawrence above Fields in rankings, Lawrence is simply more polished than him. However when it comes to ceiling and raw ability I feel equally as confident in both of their abilities. 

[THE BARON]

1 hour ago, Adoni Beast said:

I think we could trade down and get him between 10-15...if that’s the route we’d want to go.

And no, I don’t think he’s good enough for the “if he’s your guy you take him wherever” argument.

Dunno... No QB = No Team.   If Darnold gets traded AND they don't manage to pull off a blockbuster trade for a top QB, then they have to get their QB with the 2nd overall pick.

I think Mac Jones may very well go before both Fields and Wilson.  If the Jets trade down, they may lose out on Jones. 

It is possible 4 QB's will go in the top 10 with other teams looking to trade up to get Fields, Wilson or Jones...

[GreekJet]

I’m just not buying Mac Jones. The kid probably played on the most talented offense in the history of college football. I think transitioning to the NFL is going to a major adjustment. 

[JohnnyLV]

29 minutes ago, GreekJet said:

I’m just not buying Mac Jones. The kid probably played on the most talented offense in the history of college football. I think transitioning to the NFL is going to a major adjustment. 

His heat map definitely does not scream NFL:

[Patriot Killa]

3 hours ago, bitonti said:

was that game film from Wilson? College football games? I thought it was romper room mountain west play time 

as hilarious as that was, the guy can spin the football. His ball placement. even in extremely tight windows, is top notch and he fits a Kyle Shanahan offense better than anyone in this draft.(that is available)

[sourceworx]

12 hours ago, Grandy said:

On the real, I don't see a big difference between the talent of Fields and Lawrence. I know that amount of starts and extreme hype will keep Lawrence above Fields in rankings, Lawrence is simply more polished than him. However when it comes to ceiling and raw ability I feel equally as confident in both of their abilities. 

I'll be honest, I'm not in love with any of the QBs in this draft. However I like Fields the best of them all. He needs some polishing, but he has rare athletic traits. 

Go for the guy with rare tools if you're not sure who to take.

[Philc1]

2 hours ago, GreekJet said:

I’m just not buying Mac Jones. The kid probably played on the most talented offense in the history of college football. I think transitioning to the NFL is going to a major adjustment. 

Exact same thing can be said about Fields

[Philc1]

5 hours ago, bitonti said:

the jets picking at 2 should be able to find a player without an obvious fatal flaw 

not just reach on whoever QB looks good in shorts 

Yeah but Wilson had a great game against North Alabama

[MykePM]

5 hours ago, bitonti said:

the jets picking at 2 should be able to find a player without an obvious fatal flaw 

not just reach on whoever QB looks good in shorts 

 

[T0mShane]

 

[Gramsci]

3 hours ago, Philc1 said:

Exact same thing can be said about Fields

Not really. Mac Jones was throwing to two receivers who are going to be top 10, if not top 5 draft picks. 

[sec101row23]

“I’d take Ryan Leaf,” Buffalo Bills general manager John Butler said. “I like the big, physical aspects about him. He’s got good mobility, and there’s something about him, kind of tough to say just what, just something that you like in a quarterback. They’re both talented players, but I give the edge to Leaf.”

“I like the the fact that Peyton stayed in school for his fourth year, but you can’t just automatically say that Ryan is worse off because he’s coming out a year early,” Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome said.
 

 

Peyton Manning’s a nice quarterback, but put Ryan Leaf on that team and Tennessee beats Florida at least once in four years.

If I’ve got the No. 1 draft pick, I’ll take Mr. Leaf.

The overwhelming consensus: Manning may have the more recognizable name, but Leaf clearly is the preferred quarterback among league executives. Fourteen of the 20 polled said they would draft Leaf over Manning, citing the Washington State quarterback’s stronger arm, better mobility and more promising long term prospect.  

 

 

[FidelioJet]

9 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

 

All I see is Fields above Lawrence.  Oh, and Kyle Trask putting in serious work.  @JiF

And Wilson is above Fields.  He just happens to have the least talent.

[Butterfield]

11 hours ago, TokyoJetsFan said:

 

2021 NFL draft: Trevor Lawrence, QB3? That's how one former NFL coach grades him

How many times can one person contradict themselves in one article?

[JustInFudge]

11 hours ago, Patriot Killa said:

I’d rather my QB have a smaller frame than a slow processor. That’s just me. I think one of those contributes to being a bust more than the other.

The question is, do you really need to process quickly playing Flag Football?  Idk - I played, I was QB of my intermural team in college, similar to Wilson, I had all day to "process"....that said, I'm not sure my Flag Football prowess would have gotten me in shape to face Clemson in playoff game and slowly process 6 TD's, something Wilson has never done in one of his Flag Football games and out playing the greatest prospect since Andrew Elway, again. 

 

[JustInFudge]

10 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

 

All I see is Fields above Lawrence.  Oh, and Kyle Trask putting in serious work.  @JiF

I feel like you need to be an actuary to understand that chart and I couldnt pass prealgebra.  So????

[JustInFudge]

Every year, fans/wannabe draftniks cling to something so utterly stupid, it becomes mindless talking points that just get repeated over and over and over again.  In 16 it was level of competition, in 17 it was "MPH" lmfao, in 18 it was "NFL windows", in 19 it was under 6' feet, in 20 it was "system" QB cant translate and blah blah blah blah....

this year, with "processor" by far takes the cake.  It just repeated over and over and over again without any actual reality to the context.  The idea that Zach Wilson playing vs. cones in a clean jersey Flag Football game is some type of high level "processor" is moronic.  And then idea the Justin Fields is a slow processors playing 100x better competition and dropping a 6 bomb vs. Clemson is a slow "processor" is next level mental gymnastics stupidity.  Straight up.  

[FidelioJet]

9 minutes ago, JiF said:

The question is, do you really need to process quickly playing Flag Football?  Idk - I played, I was QB of my intermural team in college, similar to Wilson, I had all day to "process"....that said, I'm not sure my Flag Football prowess would have gotten me in shape to face Clemson in playoff game and slowly process 6 TD's, something Wilson has never done in one of his Flag Football games and out playing the greatest prospect since Andrew Elway, again. 

 

Every piece of data points to Fields and Lawrence having more time in the pocket and receivers more open.

It's like you want to only show that Wilson as some type of aberration in the college game - and he was the only QB who had time and open receivers. 

It really is a silly argument. 

I'll say it again, don't like Wilson but don't like him for legitimate reasons.  

 

[Jet Nut]

14 hours ago, derp said:

Yeah but it took both those guys time to get there which is the point, no? Lamar took a year off and Allen was being called a running back here until he got a high end receiver and things clicked and he broke out.

Lamar played in 16 games as a rookie started 7 

 

[Jet Nut]

11 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

@joewilly12 has.  

[bitonti]

33 minutes ago, JiF said:

Every year, fans/wannabe draftniks cling to something so utterly stupid, it becomes mindless talking points that just get repeated over and over and over again.  In 16 it was level of competition, in 17 it was "MPH" lmfao, in 18 it was "NFL windows", in 19 it was under 6' feet, in 20 it was "system" QB cant translate and blah blah blah blah....

this year, with "processor" by far takes the cake.  It just repeated over and over and over again without any actual reality to the context.  The idea that Zach Wilson playing vs. cones in a clean jersey Flag Football game is some type of high level "processor" is moronic.  And then idea the Justin Fields is a slow processors playing 100x better competition and dropping a 6 bomb vs. Clemson is a slow "processor" is next level mental gymnastics stupidity.  Straight up.  

When people say processor it's a dog whistle for all of the stereotypes about quarterbacks of a certain skin tone