There is a growing certainty in the NFL draft community that the 49ers will select Alabama fullback Mac Jones No. 3 overall. Rumors started spinning when San Francisco picked the trigger of their trade up to number 3, and they did not slow down. For some leading NFL reporters and analysts, the concept begins with the Hawks at no. 4. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, however, is not yet ready to jump to that point.
Rapoport joined the Rich Eisen Show on Friday and chatted with the third-choice side over the 49ers’ plans. While saying that, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told him that they definitely consider Jones at number 3, and that people who know Shanahan say he likes Jones, but Rapoport no longer considered him a pencil.
‘I think a lot of buzz is legal. What I do not know 100 percent, do they actually do? Rapoport told Eisen. ‘Because if you talk to other teams in the top 10, and really only to other teams in general, everyone agrees that Mac Jones is a first round. Not everyone agrees that he should be elected there. Is he then Kirk Cousins-plus for Kyle? Can be. But I’m not 100 percent ready to say, ‘This is definitely the man we’re going to make after the fourth choice.’ ‘
It’s the logical conclusion to go into the top three with Justin State Fields in Ohio and Trey Lance in North Dakota as well. While Jones is coming off a stellar 2020 season, Lance and Fields are an excellent prospect on their own, with a lot of athletics contributing to their upside.
If Shanahan wants to work with the same kind of quarterback as he has worked his entire career, it seems to be the logical choice of Jones, so he is bound to the 49ers from the moment the trade is done. However, there is enough reason to believe that they will take a different direction, and someone as plugged in as Rapoport who does not connect a player at number 3 says the door is still wide open.