The San Francisco 49ers are going to select a quarterback in the first round of the draft this year, otherwise they would not have surrendered so much to trade up to No. 3. The question, then, is which quarterback they will take.
According to Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network, there is “overwhelming” consensus from credible league sources that the 49ers want Mac Jones.
“I think the majority of people around the league believe this is for Mac Jones.”@MoveTheSticks joins @robertmays on The Athletic Football Show to sort through San Francisco’s big move up to No. 3.
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“I think the majority of people around the league believe this is for Mac Jones,” Jeremiah said of the Niners trading up. “Shock is probably the overwhelming reaction that I’ve received, but it’s what you hear from a lot of people. Of the people that you would want to believe and put your faith in, the overwhelming majority of them believe this is going to be Mac Jones.”
Jones is one of the most intriguing prospects in this year’s draft. As we see with quarterbacks every year in the weeks leading up to the main event, a player can see his stock rise rapidly. That seems to be the case with Jones this year. The former Alabama star was originally penciled into most mock drafts in the middle of the first round. Now, many analysts are predicting he will not escape the top 10.
Of all the top quarterbacks in the draft, Jones is probably the worst athlete. Considering what 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan recently said about what he wants in a QB, you might think he doesn’t want Jones. That may simply be a smokescreen, however.
Jones has done plenty to impress NFL teams since the season ended. That is why his stock is trending upward. He even drew a terrifying comparison from one of the top draft analysts in the game. While Jones will have a tough time living up to that, it would be unwise to dismiss the idea that the 49ers traded away two future first-rounders because they are so high on him.
