Galina: Mac Jones is just as good an NFL prospect as Tua Tagovailoa was, if not better

If someone could explain why Tua Tagovailoa was a top-five pick but Mac Jones won’t be, I’d love to hear it.

One of the problems with how we look at quarterbacks — or any position, for that matter — is that cliché narratives about a player might be one of the biggest factors. Once you’ve been anointed, you’re set.

Tua was anointed when he arrived on Alabama's campus and wowed everyone in practice before eventually throwing a game-winning touchdown pass coming off the bench in the 2017-18 National Championship game. That was the end of any discussion. He was going to go top five in the draft from that moment on. And he did.

Mac Jones came to Alabama with much less fanfare. He was a three-star recruit and the 399th-ranked prospect overall, according to 247 Sports. Tua was a five-star and the 32nd-best high school player available. That difference is going to be worth millions of dollars because, as I am here to tell you, Mac Jones might just be a better prospect than Tua Tagovailoa.

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Mac Jones quietly had one of the best quarterback seasons of all time in 2020, and his traditional box score stats would have won him the Heisman Trophy if he was named Tua Tagavoiloa. For the record, I think it’s great that DeVonta Smith won because having only quarterbacks take home the award gets boring.