ESPN's "College GameDay" analyst Kirk Herbstreit threw all his support to New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones during a recent appearance on the "Pat McAfee Show."
Not only did Herbstreit say Jones would be one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL, but the Patriots would have one of the "top three most improved" offenses.
"I'm 1,000 percent behind Mac Jones," Herstreit told McAfee. "... I'm telling you right now that Mac Jones is going to be pro bowl caliber quarterback in the very near future whether it's this year or the next coming year, couple of years. He's that good."
It's often forgotten that Jones was in fact a Pro Bowl quarterback when Josh McDaniels was the offensive coordinator during Jones' rookie campaign.
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The 24-year-old play caller completed 67.6% of his passes (352 of 521 throws) for 3801 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Jones, as well as the offense as a whole, took a step backward when senior football adviser Matt Patricia took over the offense when McDaniels left to take the reigns as the Las Vegas Raiders head coach. But that could change with Bill O'Brien taking control of the offense once again in New England.
"So give me a break on what they were doing offensively last year," Herbstreit said. "I mean that he had no chance. Not only did he not have weapons around him, but what they were doing schematically he had no chance so to blame him is a bunch of (expletive)."
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Herbstreit believes Jones can put out a Pro Bowl performance under the offensive structure O'Brien can bring to the Patriots because of a conversation he had with the former Alabama standout prior to his draft.
"I did a thing for the draft in 2021, where I sat down with Trevor (Lawrence), Justin Fields and a few other guys that went out that year. There were like five of them in the first round, and he was by far, by far, the most impressive guy," Herbstreit said. "…Everybody talks about (Joe) Burrow in 2019, I would say 2020 with Mac because when you talk to him about the offense, he was honestly the most impressive quarterback I've ever spoken to in college about what he sees and how his brain processes and how it fires."
Featured image via Eric Canha/USA TODAY Sports Images
