It doesn’t appear the Mac Jones-Patriots talk will be going away any time soon. Multiple mock drafts have connected the Alabama quarterback to New England, which is understandable since the Patriots could be looking for their next quarterback and Jones could be the top option still on the board at 15.
Recently, there have been a couple people who have compared Jones to Brady. Mel Kiper Jr. said Jones “kind of has a little bit of Brady in him,” and former Alabama and current Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa called him “a more mobile Tom Brady.”
Denny Thompson, a quarterback trainer based out of Jacksonville who works with Jones, joined Ordway, Merloni and Fauria on Monday and weighed in on the lofty comparisons, explaining that he does think there’s one way in which Jones might compare to Brady.
“I would compare him to Tom Brady in this way. There’s these guys… it’s an elite world. You get used to that level of elite-ness, if that’s a thing. And then there’s these guys who are just special,” Thompson said. “They have something different. When you’re around them, there’s this level of excellence that makes you want to live up to that level of excellence, and that’s where a guy like Tom Brady comes in.
“Mac has that. Now, I don’t know from a talent standpoint … if you can find a guy who has that and is uber-talented, then you have a Tom Brady. The talent level at the NFL level is the big question for Mac, but the intangible side, the things that people don’t get a chance to measure in this world we live in full of stats and rankings, he’s on that level on the intangible side.”
Thompson also discussed Jones’ draft outlook and potential fit with the Patriots. He said he expects Jones will be available at 15 if the Patriots want him, and that he’s not really buying into a few recent mock drafts that have had Jones going in the top 10.
“I don’t think he’s going to go higher than that,” Thompson said. “I think a lot of this is clickbait, the putting four quarterbacks in the top five. Guys know how to spin this. But I think he does fall past 15. My question with New England is, what is their offensive identity now? And how does Mac fit in to what they want to do? Because it’s not a Cam Newton-type deal, right. If their offensive identity is someone who spreads the ball around and gets you in and out of the right plays, then Mac certainly would fit that bill.
“He’s not going to have the biggest, strongest arm, and with the conditions there, I don’t know how that’s going to work out. But he is, for whatever this is worth -- and this time of year this is normally not a compliment -- he is a big-time locker-room guy. If that’s what they want and that’s their identity and they want to recapture that, then hell yeah, take him at 15 and see how it goes. But I think from a baseline talent perspective, I think he probably falls into the 20s.”
Jones is coming off a monster junior season, his first as Alabama's full-time starter, in which he helped lead the Crimson Tide to a 13-0 record and a national title. He threw for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions. In the national championship game against Ohio State, he completed 36 of 45 passes for 464 yards, five touchdowns and no picks.