Three Traits A Quarterback Needs To Be Great And McDaniels Says Jones Has Them.

Accuracy, anticipation, and awareness are three things that Patriots fans got used to from the quarterback position over the last 20 years and something that was clearly missing throughout the 2020 season. And the added athleticism to the position last season did not make up for it, as it was little to no help in the passing game.

Those three things are why Josh McDainels thinks Mac Jones is having success this season. There things the all time greats excelled in. It's clear that Mac Jones is at a high level when it comes to those traits, those mental gifts. And we see how he uses those talents every week.

McDaniels said, "I think the first thing is the ball placement. Your accuracy and ball placement is something you can work hard to try to improve as a coach. But many times, naturally, a player will have that. That will be their strength or weakness. I would say that Mac came here with that as a very strong point in his game."

McDaniels continued, "There’s an anticipation, a hand-eye anticipation, based on how fast the receiver, tight end, back, how fast he’s moving across the formation, how fast he’s moving vertically. Then when you have to let the ball go and when you let it go, what trajectory do you have to let it go at? There’s a lot that goes into that in a short amount of time and Mac has naturally had the ability to lead his receivers, put the ball in a place where they can catch and run in front of them and try to keep it away from the defenders at the same time.”

McDaniels added, “I also think he has the awareness. We talk about understanding who you’re throwing it to and how far away they are. Because if you’re talking about a back on a checkdown who’s seven yards in front of you, you don’t need a howitzer to blow his helmet off.

So, understanding that is a different throw than say the in-cut he rips in there to Kendrick Bourne the other day, where the window’s smaller and we need to get it in there quick because the windows closing. Any quarterback that is an accurate passer, has good ball placement, has an understanding of changing up the pace of his throws and understanding who he’s throwing to and what kind of throw is required in order to make it a successful throw, Mac does a nice job at basically all those things. I think we’ve seen a lot of different types of throws from him during the course of the year.”

Now Mac Jones isn't just getting praise from his offensive coordinator. Over the past few weeks, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Kurt Warner have all praised the Patriots rookie quarterback. 

Manning said talking about Jones's play this season after a pass to Henry versus the Browns, "Everybody’s fired up. Even Bill Belichick’s fired up. Look at the excitement and the enthusiasm he’s showing on this play. It is awesome..." "That's really good stuff there by Mac Jones."

Kurt Warner has said, "There’s some things that I really, really like that I’m seeing from Mac Jones that lets me know this guy is going to be a good quality starter in this league for a long time. The one question will be: Will he be a championship-type quarterback? And if he is, what will that look like? Where does he make the game-changing plays for his team.”

Montana has called the 49ers not taking Mac a mistake and Marino has said what Jones's doing at the moment can't be done better.

The fact is people are seeing how good Jones is. People are seeing areas for improvement but acknowledge that Mac Jones is playing at a high level. Some have even said Jones has already broken his ceiling. Jones is currently a candidate for rookie of the year.

June Jones and Charlie Weiss, two respected names in football both said that Jones was the best quarterback in this draft class. People thought they were both silly with Trevor Lawrence being labelled "generational" but so far once again, Mental traits are showing they can beat physical traits at the moment. And Mac Jones is only going to get better with development.

Mac Jones may never run a 4.40 but will the other quarterbacks ever develop his anticipation, his accuracy, and his recognition abilities? They might improve but they'll never be on Jones's level in those areas. These physical quarterbacks will never be on Jones's mental level.

So instead of getting but hurt when people compare Mac Jones to Joe Montana or Tom Brady, appreciate that people are resetting his ceiling that high. I mean, there were scouting reports that said he wouldn't be any better than Kirk Cousins. Non Patriot fans might want that to be true but I cannot imagine the fanbase wants Kirk Cousins as their franchise quarterback.

So if McDaniels see three major areas a quarterback needs to be good at in Mac Jones and is willing to publicly admit it, the world should take notice that the Patriots are on the verge of being back to where they left off in 2019. And that is among the league's best teams.

All I can say is with how well a mobile quarterback did at operating the Patriots offense in 2020, thank god general manager Bill Belichick drafted Mac Jones instead of one because like many, I couldn't stand a repeat of the 2020 offense. Now all we need is the Patriots to draft third down back Calvin Turner Jr from the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the 2022 draft.

Let the good times roll, we're on to Tennessee.