Vikings reach for a quarterback in recent 2021 mock draft
By Adam Patrick
Former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones landed with the Minnesota Vikings in a recent 2021 mock draft.
We are now into the month of March and soon, the fun part of the offseason will begin for the Minnesota Vikings and the rest of the NFL.
Free agency officially kicks off on March 17 and then a few weeks later on April 29, the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft will take place.
Free agency might be an uneventful time for the Vikings this year since they aren’t expected to have much money to spend. But with Minnesota already having a total of 10 selections in the upcoming draft, which prospects they end up picking will likely be the most exciting part of their offseason.
Minnesota Vikings go with former Alabama QB in recent 2021 mock draft
For the last three seasons, Kirk Cousins has been the quarterback of the Vikings. After signing an extension in 2020, Cousins still has two years remaining on his current deal with Minnesota.
With the Vikings only making the playoffs once in their three seasons with Cousins starting under center, some believe this year might be time for the team to make a quarterback change, or at least find his eventual replacement.
This appears to be a thought that Elite Sports NY’s Tab Bamford had when he was making the selections for each team in his latest 2021 mock draft.
At pick No. 14 in the first round, Bamford has Minnesota using their top selection on former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones. Currently, Jones is viewed as the fifth-best passing prospect in this year’s draft pool behind Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance.
Despite Jones coming off the board around pick No. 19 in most 2021 mock drafts according to NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, this selection by the Vikings feels like a bit of a reach.
First, there isn’t really anyone that ranks Jones as a top-15 prospect this year. The Draft Network has him at 42nd in their current prospect rankings, PFF has him slotted at 33rd, and ESPN currently has him as this year’s 28th-best prospect.
Are we starting to see why Minnesota using the No. 14 pick on Jones would be a significant reach? Think back to the last time the Vikings used a top-15 selection on a quarterback who shouldn’t have come off the board as early as he did when they drafted Christian Ponder in 2011. How did that turn out?
Now, this isn’t a comparison of Ponder to Jones since the former Alabama passer can actually throw the ball. But Minnesota selecting Jones at No. 14 would be comparable to their first-round decision in 2011 since both would be regarded as reaches.
Listen, if the Vikings wanted to trade back to accumulate some more picks and draft Jones closer to the end of the first round, then that would be easier to tolerate. But to pass up a significant amount of top prospects at pick No. 14 to select a quarterback who might not be a starter until 2023 is not something Minnesota should be doing this year.