There is growing certainty in the NFL draft community that the 49ers will select Alabama No. 3 quarterback Mac Jones overall. Rumors began to swirl around the time San Francisco shot up its trade to No. 3 pick, and they haven’t slowed down. For some prominent NFL reporters and analysts, the draft begins with the Falcons at No. 4. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport isn’t ready to jump to this point.
Rapoport on Friday joined the Rich Eisen Show and talked about the 49ers ’plans with the third team. Although he said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told him they would definitely consider Jones at No. 3 and that people who know Shanahan say he loves Jones, Rapoport stopped writing him as a selection.
“I think a lot of buzz is legitimate. What I don’t know 100 percent is are they really doing it? Rapoport told Eisen. “Because if you talk to other teams in the top ten and really to other teams in general, everyone agrees that Mac Jones is the first-round pick. Not everyone agrees that they should pick him there. So, is Kirk Cousins-plus for Kyle? Maybe. But I’m not 100% ready to say, ‘Definitely, this is the guy we move on to in the fourth selection.’
This is the logical conclusion drawn with Justin Fields of Ohio State and Trey Lance of the state of North Dakota, also in the mix to be among the top three. While Jones is coming out of a stellar 2020 season, Lance and Fields are great prospects on their own, with plenty of athletics added to their advantage.
If Shanahan wants to go with the same type of quarterback he’s worked on all his career, Jones would seem to be the logical choice, which is why he’s been tied to the 49ers from the time the operation was done. There’s plenty of reason to believe they’ll go in a different direction, and someone as plugged in as Rapoport who doesn’t commit to a No. 3 player says the door is still open.