Boston All-Sports Thread

Post #1501 » by **Feed Your Head** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:29 am

https://www.pff.com/draft/tracker

The narrative surrounding Mac Jones for the past few weeks was focused on whether he was worth not just the No. 3 overall pick, but the three first-round selections the 49ers invested in that draft slot. At No. 15 overall, it’s an entirely different conversation. Jones led the nation last season in overall PFF grade (95.8) and was the most accurate college quarterback in terms of adjusted completion rate (84.2%) PFF has seen. This is an outstanding pick.

1st banana · Post #1502 » by **1st banana** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:36 am

Pumped for Mac really love him makes quick decisions has a quick release goes through progressions well. He should fit bill and joshys system very nicely.

1st banana · Post #1503 » by **1st banana** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:37 am

In other news the redsox are good? I was really expecting them to have a another throw away year but good lord Alex cora must be some kinda sorcerer. Bullpen has been solid too surprisingly.

Captain_Caveman · Post #1504 » by **Captain_Caveman** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:43 am

31to6 wrote:yup, Team Mac now. Guess I'm glad it 'worked out' for them without having to give any assets.
Chris Simms can suck it though.

Mac Jones for the 15th pick
Trey Lance for the 12th pick, two future 1sts, and 3rd rounder this year
Justin Fields for the 20th pick, a future first, a future 4th, and a 5th rounder this year

Trey Lance better walk on water to justify that difference in draft capital. Super happy with how this played out. I liked Jones more than Fields anyway.

threrf23 · Post #1505 » by **threrf23** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:37 am

I wanted Lance. At 19 years old - 28 passing TDs, 0 INTs, 1100 rushing yards, 14 rushing TDs, 16-0 team record. Only one season, but man is that a season.

Mac Jones put up some impressive numbers last year, but it's relatively easy for a fourth year guy to look good starting for Alabama and playing with a premiere WR. That's not to say I'm down on him or feel I can accurately evaluate him, just that I don't think he was the no brainer that Lance was.

Post #1506 » by **ParticleMan** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:56 am

Mac Jones was the best case scenario. Pats got lucky. Great system QB for McDaniels.

Wasn't as enamored of Lance. It's about level of competition, and duration of consistency. Jones played huge in the biggest games. I would have loved Fields but Jones is more ready. Jones is not the all-round athlete that others are but classic athleticism is not that big an asset for a QB compared to other things, as the greatest QBs of the last two decades (Brady, Brees, Rodgers) have shown.

Cam will be the QB this year but Jones will be ready next year with Stidham as a solid backup. Suddenly the QB situation is looking like a strength going forward. Now let's hope all those FA weapons pan out!

No matter what happens in the next couple of days, this draft is a win.

jmr07019 · Post #1507 » by **jmr07019** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:09 am

Didn’t want Jones. There hasn't been any QB this unathletic drafted in the last 5 years who has succeeded. I know it worked for Brady but he’s a once in a lifetime player. Gotta change with the times. The fact that Fields was easily attainable makes it that much worse. Oh well. Nothing left to do but root for the kid.

31to6 · Post #1508 » by **31to6** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:53 pm

Captain_Caveman wrote:
31to6 wrote:yup, Team Mac now. Guess I'm glad it 'worked out' for them without having to give any assets.
Chris Simms can suck it though.

Mac Jones for the 15th pick
Trey Lance for the 12th pick, two future 1sts, and 3rd rounder this year
Justin Fields for the 20th pick, a future first, a future 4th, and a 5th rounder this year

Trey Lance better walk on water to justify that difference in draft capital. Super happy with how this played out. I liked Jones more than Fields anyway.

What if they’d lost a couple more games though?

Just kidding what’s done is done.
Onward and hopefully upward

Post #1509 » by **Feed Your Head** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:54 pm

I wanted to trade up for Lance, he was my preference, his upside is insanely high. I like Fields a lot too, but would have had to trade up.

I have no issues with picking Mac at 15, and I think he will be starting by week 5. Arm strength can always be improved, but for now he is a perfect fit for a run heavy offense whose best pass catching options are tight ends and slot receivers.

Post #1510 » by **ParticleMan** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:52 pm

Jones has upside too. Imagine what he'll do once someone introduces him to this newfangled idea of lifting weights.

jmr07019 · Post #1511 » by **jmr07019** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:30 pm

ParticleMan wrote:Jones has upside too. Imagine what he'll do once someone introduces him to this newfangled idea of lifting weights.

What an athletic specimen :lol:

31to6 · Post #1512 » by **31to6** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:59 pm

dear god

soxfan2003 · Post #1513 » by **soxfan2003** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:29 pm

jmr07019 wrote:Didn’t want Jones. There hasn't been any QB this unathletic drafted in the last 5 years who has succeeded. I know it worked for Brady but he’s a once in a lifetime player. Gotta change with the times. The fact that Fields was easily attainable makes it that much worse. Oh well. Nothing left to do but root for the kid.

Check out all of the Super Bowl winners in the past 25+ years. . Most of them have been fairly slow in the years in which they won Super Bowls. It is the truly fast strong running athletic quarterbacks that have barely ever won it.

Baker Mayfield is a bad call from arguably appearing in the Super Bowl this past year. He was drafted in the past 5 years. Mac Jones is taller and even slightly faster than Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield joined a team that had gone 0-16 the prior season so for all of the criticisms Mayfield gets, he has helped turn around the 'browns. Mayfield doesn't have a rocket arm either.

Past 5 Super Bowl winners....

2017 - Brady
2018 Nick Foles
2019 Brady
2020 Mahomes (he joined a perennial playoff team...)
2021 Brady. (proved it wasn't the New England system)

4 out of the 5 last Super Bowl winners much slower than Mac Jones. Mobile QB's have a poor record of actually winning Super Bowls. It will improve since it can only go up with so many faster QB's getting a chance but I suspect more Super Bowls over the next 25-50 years won by relatively immobile pocket passers as a percentage of those QB's in the league than vice-versa.

Ability to run super fast may be a floor raiser in regular season but to win a Super Bowl, you usually have to beat a team or two that can largely contain your running ability. If you are beating up on bad/mediocre defenses with your legs, sometimes you don't know what hit you when you face a great defense that can mostly take that away. This really happened to Mahomes in both Super Bowls. For all of his great arm talent and very good athleticism, he was fortunate to win one of them.

Outside of great arm talent, Mahomes himself is actually a mediocre athlete compared to most NFL defenders. I may be missing a few players but outside of Mike Vick, Steve Young, Cam Newton and Lamar Jackson and a few others -- nearly all of these quarterbacks of the the past 25 years would struggle to play in the NFL at a position other than quarterback. I doubt Mahomes could make it as an NFL safety or linebacker -- his combination of speed/strength doesn't appear to be nearly good enough. As Brady himself has implied, QB is a position in football where general athleticism is insanely overrated. Brady himself probably couldn't have played anywhere on defense at the college D1 level. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholson are two better golfers in history. There are tens of thousands of golfers worldwide that can out run those two golfers. I maintain playing QB is more equivalent to playing a fast paced game golf where someone is messing with the ball position a bit than it is to playing tennis, a sport where some very good athleticism and truly great conditioning is a requirement. Golf is about performing under pressure while tennis for the most part is a lot less about dealing with the pressure.

As long as he can stay healthy and takes his craft seriously, I like Mac Jones odds of success. Would I like him 1-2 inches taller and with a moderately stronger arm? Sure. I would much rather have that than a .2 upgrade in the 40.

Homerclease · Post #1514 » by **Homerclease** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:40 pm

I think Jones is a big bag of meh but you guys didn’t really have much else choice

TA42 · Post #1515 » by **TA42** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:31 pm

Captain_Caveman wrote:
31to6 wrote:yup, Team Mac now. Guess I'm glad it 'worked out' for them without having to give any assets.
Chris Simms can suck it though.

Mac Jones for the 15th pick
Trey Lance for the 12th pick, two future 1sts, and 3rd rounder this year
Justin Fields for the 20th pick, a future first, a future 4th, and a 5th rounder this year

Trey Lance better walk on water to justify that difference in draft capital. Super happy with how this played out. I liked Jones more than Fields anyway.

Jesus - when you actually type out everything those two teams gave up it's insanity. They're hoping for Mahomes 2.0 and they better be pretty damn close to that.

Post #1516 » by **Bleeding Green** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:54 pm

Yeah Niners are bat **** unless Lance is a top-5 QB while he's still on his rookie contract. I dunno if Jones is gonna be any good, but if he's just average on his rookie contract that's pretty great value.

31to6 · Post #1517 » by **31to6** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:01 pm

Nick Foles didn't win a Super Bowl that never happened.
Shot into the sun along with any references to the 2010 NBA Finals. Never happened.

Re: Mac, I'm led to believe that completing about 80% of your passes -- including throughout a run to the title -- is a good thing.
Wait til Cam shows him how to zing the ball into the dirt though!

Post #1518 » by **djFan71** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:13 pm

31to6 wrote:Nick Foles didn't win a Super Bowl that never happened.
Shot into the sun along with any references to the 2010 NBA Finals. Never happened.

Re: Mac, I'm led to believe that completing about 80% of your passes -- including throughout a run to the title -- is a good thing.
Wait til Cam shows him how to zing the ball into the dirt though!

Seahawks started Russ as a rookie even though they paid Matt Flynn to be the starter and he was the presumptive starter going into camp. Pats aren't even paying Cam much. I mean, beating out Matt Flynn isn't much, but would beating out Cam be so much harder?

31to6 · Post #1519 » by **31to6** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:35 pm

djFan71 wrote:
31to6 wrote:Nick Foles didn't win a Super Bowl that never happened.
Shot into the sun along with any references to the 2010 NBA Finals. Never happened.

Re: Mac, I'm led to believe that completing about 80% of your passes -- including throughout a run to the title -- is a good thing.
Wait til Cam shows him how to zing the ball into the dirt though!

Seahawks started Russ as a rookie even though they paid Matt Flynn to be the starter and he was the presumptive starter going into camp. Pats aren't even paying Cam much. I mean, beating out Matt Flynn isn't much, but would beating out Cam be so much harder?

I have no predictions at this point other than that the team will be better than last year. In terms of QB the Cam signing establishes a low but important bar for Mac to surpass. I'm fine with it. Basically Mac this year will attempt to be/do what some of us hoped Stidham could be/do last year. Stidham now appears to have been a total miss/waste of a 4th round pick but so it goes, right? Edit: OR maybe he settles in holding a clipboard for the next decade or so.

Mac is Cam spelled backwards dayyyyum.

Curmudgeon · Post #1520 » by **Curmudgeon** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:45 pm

Meh, athleticism doesn't mean much. Look at Cam Newton, who even after his injuries is a super athlete. How many wins did that produce?

It's all in the head. Can the kid read coverages and go through his progressions in 2-3 seconds? Can he make the back shoulder throw? Can he throw deep? If he can do all of those things, he will succeed.