Patriots: Tua Tagovailoa’s comments on Mac Jones should have Pats Nation drooling

The New England Patriots are currently searching for their third starting quarterback in as many seasons, and conflicting rumors have emerged about their so-called plans.

At the start of the offseason, it appeared that the front office was intrigued by the idea of drafting a top prospect with the No. 15 overall pick.

A few weeks later, however, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller disclosed that the Patriots aren’t planning to use that pick, or any early-round selection, on a quarterback.

In retrospect, this obscurity is probably exactly what Bill Belichick wants with the draft still over a month away.

At this point, it remains to be seen whether he and the rest of the war room has made up their minds about who will be under center for the Patriots come training camp. What we do know, however, is that Alabama quarterback Mac Jones has been heavily linked with New England since the end of the 2020 college football season.

There are concerns among scouts about whether Jones would return first-round value, but if former teammate Tua Tagovailoa’s latest comments about him told us anything, it’s that the Patriots fans should be drooling at the prospect of drafting him.

Patriots fans will love Tua Tagovailo’s pro comparison for draft target Mac Jones.

"“I would say he’s a sly kind of athletic person,” Tagovailoa told Yahoo! Sports  “He’s a more mobile Tom Brady.”“He’s a really great person. A lot of the guys, when I was playing at Alabama, they really loved being around his personality and who he was. So I’m thinking whatever team gets him they’re going to be very lucky. He’s a great player.”"

What more could Patriots fans want? In all seriousness, it’s no surprise that Tagovailoa jumped on the opportunity to gas up one of his former teammates, but comparing him to a more athletic version of Tom Brady — though he hasn’t been the first to do so — seems extremely premature.

We aren’t saying the fan base shouldn’t be excited about Jones potentially being drafted by the Patriots. However, setting unrealistic expectations for a young quarterback who only has one season of experience, albeit in the loaded SEC, will just lead to disappointment.

On the other side of the spectrum, you simply can’t ignore the fact that Jones led the country in completion percentage (77.4), completions (311), passing yards (4,500), passer rating (203.1), and yards per attempt (11.2). He also finished second with 41 passing touchdowns in 2020 and capped off the campaign with a national championship victory over Ohio State.

It’s being held against Jones that he had the luxury of playing behind the best offensive line in the country and throwing to an absolute embarrassment of riches as far as wide receiving talent is concerned, but shouldn’t he deserve equal credit for quarterbacking one of the most high-powered college offenses in recent memory and delivering every step of the way? We like to think so.

Again, we aren’t entirely sold on Jones as a cant-miss QB prospect, but Tagovailo’s comments about him prove that Patriots fans should have zero qualms if the team uses their first-round pick on him next month.

After all, a more mobile version of Brady, the consensus greatest football player of all time, probably has a decent shot of panning out at the NFL level, right?

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