Auburn football: PFF sees Justin Fields as “smaller Cam Newton”

Auburn football fans don’t have a horse (or Tiger, rather) in the race for day one of the NFL Draft, but in a way, they do.

You see, one of the most ridiculous realities about this year’s draft is what many experts expect the San Francisco 49ers to do with the #3 pick.

That would be drafting Mac Jones.

While the Jacksonville, Florida native did win the NCAA Championship via a dominant sweep of the College Football Playoff, and he was a top-four finisher in the 2020 Heisman race eventually won by Devonta Smith, assuming the success is replicable at the NFL level with what he has shown in the pre-draft process (aka very little due to injury) is a fool’s errand.

With two potential top ten draft picks at WR (Smith, Jaylen Waddle) at his disposal and one of NCAA Division I FBS’ most talented rushers (Najee Harris) sharing the backfield with him, Smith had the season served to him on a silver spoon.

In the NFL, with Rasheem Moshert, Jeff Wilson Jr., and Wayne Gallman behind him and a middling receiving core that no longer has the ability to prop him up quite like his double top-15 (at worst) NFL Draft pick WR duo did, Jones will be swimming in the deep end.

He doesn’t have the wheels to escape the pocket when it collapses against the scariest men in the world quite like the man that should go #3 to the Niners, Justin Fields, could.

And no offense to Jones’ NFL comp from Pro Football Network, Kirk Cousins, but he also doesn’t have nearly the ceiling.

Pro Football Focus believes Fields is a smaller version of a certain former Auburn football legend-turned-NFL MVP:

If Fields’ could come close to the career Cam Newton has had in the NFL, he would be a pretty damn accomplished professional.

And while he didn’t defeat Jones when his Ohio State Buckeyes lost in the National Championship game to ‘Bama, Fields could win the long game by outshining him in the NFL and proving the 49ers would (will) be foolish when they go with Jones at #3.