The weird string of events that rose Mac Jones’ draft stock

When the college football season ended, Mac Jones was seen as a late 1st/early 2nd round prospect. I was so many mock drafts have him going 20 or lower, some even didn’t even have him going in round 1. What has happened since then? No games, the Senior Bowl and two pro days where he looked average, if I’m being honest. The only thing he’s done well is interviewing essentially.

But his draft stock has seen an ascension like I’ve never seen in the last few weeks. It’s natural for guys draft stock to move a bit based on information being dug into by watching film and stuff, but it’s very hard to believe that he went from being a fringe 1st rounder to being the second coming of Brady in a month that has top 5 potential. This rise in draft stock is unprecedented and it’s hard to imagine why. 

It’s even more curious how his draft stock seemed to really begin to move right after the 49ers move up to 3. Before then, his stock had risen a bit to maybe mid-1st rounder, with some stragglers thinking he could go top 10, but that was an unpopular opinion. His ceiling was 8 or 9 but most people disregarded that possibility.

I even saw many mock drafts by people with “inside information” put him past the 49ers at 12. Saw many have him at 15 to Patriots, 19 to Washington, 20 to Chicago or even 28 to the Saints. But now that the 49ers traded up to 3, a deal done without the knowledge of anyone besides the few involved until it was finalized, the same people with the “inside info” that had him going past the 49ers at 12 suddenly all think that’s who they are after at 3? How does that make any sense? If they knew who they were after, they’d have put him at 12 there prior. And again, literally not a soul knew about the trade until it happened but we are supposed to believe everyone suddenly knows the pick? Yeah right.

It also can’t go unnoticed that nobody was questioning Justin Fields as QB3 in the draft until after the trade. Todd McShay was quick to push him to QB5 in the draft and others have followed. All the random talk about him started then. The timing is not a coincidence. Someone, somewhere is trying to influence some decision-makers. 

This whole thing is just odd and fishy. The ascension of Mac Jones’ draft stock is unprecedented and the sudden fall of Fields’ and the timing of it all is super strange. There is definitely some weird stuff going on, which is likely being pushed by people and the media is being played like a fiddle with it, and as such, fans are also being played. We’ve seen weird stuff this time of year that don’t actually change anything on draft night, but this one is more extreme than any I’ve ever seen. We’ll never get an answer to why this happened but we’ll have to see how it actually plays out on draft night.