Pro Day notes: Alabama QB Mac Jones enjoyed ‘just talking ball’ with the Bears

Alabama quarterback Mac Jones is looking for a team he can build a relationship with.

“It takes one team to fall in love with a guy,” Jones said Monday. “Hopefully I can do that. Whatever team wants to do that [with me] that’d be awesome.”

The Bears have begun that process with Jones. The question now becomes how much does general manager Ryan Pace further that relationship in the coming weeks?

“I’ve met with [the Bears],” Jones said. “It was a really great meeting. We just talked football for like an hour straight. That’s the best type of meeting for me, just talking ball. So, hopefully, I’ll get a chance to talk to them more and see where that relationship heads.”

The dust has only just settled on last week’s trades that gave San Francisco the third-overall pick, Miami the sixth-overall pick and Philadelphia the 12th-overall pick. Quarterbacks are going to come at a premium in the 2021 draft. That was already clear, but teams like the 49ers are actively jockeying for position.

Jones is one of five quarterbacks likely to hear his name in the first round on April 29. There remains some debate whether he’s the fourth- or fifth-best quarterback in the draft.

[ 2021 NFL mock draft: Hub Arkush version 1.0 ]

Jones will participate in his second of two Pro Days this week. It’s an unusual draft year, with no combine, so Jones is taking advantage of every opportunity to showcase himself. One knock against him is that he played with elite talent in 2020. It’s easy to look good throwing to the likes of DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, the argument goes.

But Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s supporting cast was hardly a group of no-name slouches. An NFL team is going to take a chance on Jones.

Jones is used to being doubted. He was a three-star recruit coming out of high school in Jacksonville, Florida. According to 247Sports’ composite ranking, a total of 398 players were rated above him in the class of 2017, including 17 other pro-style quarterbacks.

He stepped into the Alabama starting job late in 2019 when Tua Tagovailoa suffered a hip injury.

“Really, I was just trying to fight for my spot,” Jones said. “Tua went down and we lost that Auburn game [in 2019], then finished the season pretty well. In my mind, I was just focused on looking at how I can get better in the offseason.”

The NFL draft was far from his mind entering last season. But after the most efficient season by a QB in college football history, he has played his way into a first-round pick.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban sure believes it.

“If you just watch Mac play throughout the course of the year, when it came to mental errors, he only made a few,” Saban said Monday.

Saban credited former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who has since been hired as the head coach at Texas.

“[Jones] went out there and sort of calmly executed and took what the defense gave him and made the right choices and decisions based on what we had coached him to do,” Saban said. “Seldom did he force the ball. Seldom did he turn it over. Really managed exactly what we expected him to manage.

“I know that when you say a guy does that, everybody thinks he’s not a very good player, he’s not capable of anything else but managing. But to me, to be a good quarterback, you’ve got to be a good manager. Then your ability to make plays sort of goes from there. And Mac has ability to make plays.”

There’s interest from the Bears, as evidenced by the aforementioned Zoom discussion. Jones, however, might not be available when the Bears select at No. 20 overall. It’s possible he could drop that far, but too many teams are in need of a quarterback.

It might take a trade up to grab him, if Pace feels a real conviction toward Jones.

Notre Dame connection: In South Bend, Indiana, a number of Notre Dame draft prospects will participate in Pro Day this week. Among them is offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg.

The 6-foot-6, 302-pound tackle is a potential second-round selection in the draft. He could be a Bears target if they don’t take a tackle in the first round.

Adding the Notre Dame offensive lineman would surround Eichenberg with familiar faces. When asked Monday who he consults for draft advice, he mentioned two current Bears.

“For me, talking to guys like Sam Mustipher, Alex Bars, Quinton Nelson, those are guys I lean on, they’ve been in my shoes,” Eichenberg said. “They’re in the league now. Q was a first-round pick and Sam and Alex went as free agents. So you get the response from the full spectrum. They’ve helped me a lot. They’d do anything for me and I’ll do anything for them.”

Mustipher and Bars were a big reason why the Bears offensive line found success in December. Both played at Notre Dame. The Indianapolis Colts selected Nelson sixth overall in 2018.

[ Bears center Sam Mustipher earns respect from teammates, carves out role ]