New England Patriots QB Mac Jones is more mobile than you think

New England Patriots young quarterback Mac Jones has had a terrific rookie season, even if the past two games have been sub-standard. The hope here is that he rebounds in style.

It hurts here more than anywhere. This space has lauded this young gunslinger since after the 2021 NFL draft.

Yet, anyone who took a good look after the draft could readily observe that Mac could throw the football. In the NFL, he’s been an amazingly accurate thrower in his rookie season.

But what about running it? Let’s explore this because there has been a lot of blarney flown about on this topic.

New England Patriots Mac Jones is not the slug NFL talking heads think

Since the draft, the so-called experts, have contended that Patriots’ rookie quarterback Mac Jones was a tortoise in a football jersey who couldn’t get out of his own way on a football field.

They bought into the false story that emanated out of a photo of Mac, cigar-toting after presumably an Alabama football game.

Let’s just say, he wasn’t in the best of “shape”, condition, whatever you might want to call it. That was a fair criticism. He wasn’t.

The foolishness that came out of all that hubbub was this, that he didn’t have any athletic ability based on that one photograph.

This space will now assure any interested parties that the evaluation was totally wrong and here’s why.

New England Patriots Mac Jones can run, and run well

Well, that photo clouded the vision and the perspicacity of those NFL talking head observers to the point that they couldn’t see the forest for the proverbial trees in this case.

The fact of the matter is, that Mac Jones is not an immobile quarterback, far from it. In fact, he’s mobile, very mobile indeed and that will be seen heretofore for the Patriots for certain.

So the cognoscenti who saw that photo evidently based their conclusions on the photo, not on any concrete evidence. Conversely, this analysis is based on fact.

First, contrary to popular conception, Jones was quite spry at his Pro-days at Alabama. Since the combine was canceled these were the major indicators and testing regimens available.

Jones had two very nice 40-yard dash scores on his first Pro-day. He tallied a 4.72 and a 4.68. That’s anything but as slow as molasses, a time a certain Tom Brady ran in 2000 running a 5.28 40-yard dash.

While Jones’ times weren’t Michael Vick-esque, he certainly wasn’t the slug-like blob that NFL talking heads surmised either. They were plain and simply, wrong.

Jones can tuck it and run it. And while he may not have been in the best of shape at Alabama, he is now and will be in even better condition in 2022 and thereafter when he is in Patriot shape.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And Mac Jones has made that abundantly clear already in his pro career. The young man can run and he can run well as was seen against the Buffalo Bills recently.

In the loss against Buffalo on Week 16, Jones scampered for a big gain and then was roughed up on the sideline by a Buffalo Bills player. But that was not until he made a substantial gain.

Obviously, he’s getting now into “Patriot shape”, and this space will go on a small limb to say that in 2022 he will be in even better shape and allow his offensive coaches (if they are savvy enough to realize it) that he can be a true double threat on a roll-out on any play.

They should realize that and utilize all of his abilities to the fullest now. It’s not too late in the 2021 season to see his physical skills win a game for the Patriots.

So that’s the story, the thought, the hypothesis from this space. Simply put, Mac Jones can run and when he arrives at Patriots camp in 2022, he’ll be running a 4.55 or 4.6 forty-yard dash.

Couple that with his 70 percent completion percentage on his passes and there will be lots to worry about for any NFL opponents. On that fact, you can take this prediction to the bank.