Joe Montana Says if He Was Running the 49ers, He'd Have Drafted Mac Jones

Tide Sports -  San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana believes San Francisco made a mistake by not drafting Mac Jones third overall in the NFL Draft.  

"If I were the 49ers, I would have taken the kid (Jones) from Alabama last year. Nothing against the guy (Trey Lance) that they took but, more pro-style offense, more used to being in tough situations," said Montana on ESPN's College Football Live show. ...

Through eight games, Jones has a rookie-leading 68.1% completion rate, 1,997 yards passing, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. 

Lance has played in four games while completing 52.1% of his passes for a 354 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

So now that the greatest quarterback in history (pre-2001) and the man who defined what it was to play for the 49ers is saying if it were up to him, he'd have wanted Mac Jones instead of Trey Lance, is it too soon to say they're beginning to have some buyer's remorse in San Francisco? 

Again, to reiterate what Joe Cool said himself, it's nothing against Trey Lance. Just because the Niners are sticking with Jimmy Garoppolo, whom they had so little faith in that they traded this year's No. 12 pick and two more 1st rounders in order to find his replacement is not an indictment of the rookie. He was highly regarded throughout the scouting process by everyone and still has a bright future, I'm sure. But they can't be feeling good about the situation as it stands. And there has to be widespread agreement with Montana's sentiment. 

I mean, remember a couple of months ago, when the NFL season had barely begun and no one outside of the precious few of us who had been there in person to see much of Patriots training camp fully appreciated what we had in Mac Jones? It was before the Pats first game that  Adam Schefter released this report:

One of the many reasons the San Francisco 49ers traded up to the third overall spot in this year's NFL draft was their belief that the New England Patriots could trade up to No. 3 and beat them to Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, league sources told ESPN.

San Francisco wanted to position itself to select a quarterback for the future and believed there were multiple worthy candidates. But the 49ers also were concerned that the Patriots would leapfrog them in the draft and position themselves to select Jones before San Francisco could. 

The 49ers considered the well-documented relationship between Bill Belichick and Nick Saban and knew that New England was doing legwork on the quarterback prospects in the draft [and believed] that Jones was the prospect the Patriots identified as their potential quarterback of the future.  

Well now that it's been six months since Belichick did, in fact, identify Jones as the quarterback of the future that John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan's instincts were spot on. And since a few months after that, he didn't even put Cam Newton on the roster, we can confirm that future is now. And given that at the halfwayish point in the season Jones is leading that QB rookie class of "multiple worthy candidates" in every statistical category and has been perhaps THE best quarterback in the league as of late:

… I think it's safe to say that both the Niners and Patriots had good reason to have so much faith in the guy. 

All of which begs the question, if Schefter's league sources said the whole reason the Niners made the trade was to keep Jones away from the Patriots, how did they end up not keeping him away from the Patriots? For a guy who started 17 games total at North Dakota State (in defiance of the old Bill Parcells standard that a QB should be a three-year starter with at least 30 starts and 23 wins)? 

It's also fair to ask, who does that? Who is so paranoid about another franchise that is not even in their own conference leapfrogging them to land one particular prospect that they'll mortgage their future to move up first, only to then not take said prospect? How many thousands of acres of prime real estate does someone have to own in someone else's head to get them to make so many panic moves? 

To me, it all speaks to the power of Belichick. He's so deeply dug into the cerebral cortexes of the other 31 GMs that they can't think straight. His reputation alone is enough to make them act totally against their own internal logic and against their own interests. The great leaders are able to do that to adversaries. 

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• In battle, Alexander would make it look like the middle of his line was collapsing just to make his opponents rush in where he'd envelope and crush them (see Darius' Persian Army at Gaugamela). 
• The German's were so freaked out by the mere thought of Patton, they let themselves be tricked by fake radio traffic into thinking he was leading an invasion at Calais, to the point they refused to move troops from there even as the Allies landed by the tens of thousands at Normandy. 
• Stormtroopers let Obi Wan ride right through Mos Eisley with the most wanted droid in the galaxy with a mere suggestion. 

Belichick did the same thing to Lynch and Shanahan without lifting one of his mighty, ring-clad fingers. So now they've got the QB they didn't originally want backing up the QB they didn't want while they QB they did originally want is exactly where they didn't want him to be. And Belichick got the QB they knew he wanted without it costing him a thing but his own draft pick.

So total respect to Joe Montana for recognizing what his former team passed up in Mac Jones. It takes a great one to recognize a great one.