Former NFL Coach has a new QB1 in the NFL Draft

Former NFL head coach June Jones thinks that there is one clear-cut best quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft. And the name that comes to his mind isn’t Trevor Lawrence.

It isn’t Justin Fields. Not Zac Wilson either.

And Trey Lance? Not that name either.

The name that has the former NFL head coach and quarterback mentor buzzing is the likely fifth quarterback off the draft board, Alabama’s Mac Jones (no relation).

Mac Jones is making a splash at the Senior Bowl, a big stage for the Alabama quarterback as he looks to solidify himself as one of the top quarterbacks taken in April’s NFL Draft. But even before everything started to really pick up around the quarterback of the national champions, June Jones was on-board with the young quarterback. In fact, the former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and interim head coach of the San Diego Chargers tells SportsIllustrated.com that he has the Crimson Tide quarterback leapfrogging several big names for having the best NFL career.

Lawrence is the consensus first pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fields as well as Wilson are likely off the board within the first five picks.

“I feel that Mac Jones is the best quarterback in this draft; he will have the same supporting cast in the NFL [as in college] if he gets with a good offensive minded coach,” June Jones told SportsIllustrated.com.

“Even though he has played only really one year off what I have seen in his deep ball accuracy and what he is running on offense at Alabama - it is exactly what he will be doing in the NFL. So, what you see I think is what you are going to get....he is the real deal. He can move and create from an NFL pocket. It may not play out this way but for me, he should be the first quarterback taken when all said and done.”

Mac Jones finished last year with 4,500 passing yards and 41 touchdowns. He threw just four interceptions.

Against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff Championship, he threw for 464 yards on 36-of-45 passing with five touchdowns and no interceptions. It capped off an impressive season for Mac Jones as this past season was the first where he went into the season as Alabama’s starter (although in 2019 he started the second half of the season for an injured Tua Tagovailoa).

June Jones coached last year in the XFL as well as The Spring League. Currently, he has a course on CoachTube.com that offers a certification in the ‘Run & Shoot Offense’ which he helped implement in both he NFL as well as at stops in college as a head coach at Hawaii and SMU.

The course, 'The Official Run & Shoot Offense Certification' also includes Mouse Davis, considered the godfather of the offense.