I thought it did. His main boost came from the combine, but sometimes teams determine that the combine doesn’t trump his career and what they saw of the careers of the guys taken ahead of him as better evidence. Jones was the 10th OL taken in the draft, I think that is pretty dang good. Here are those drafted ahead of him with draft position, name, and college: #4 Thomas, UGA #10 Wills, Bama #11 Becton, Louisville #13 Wirfs, Iowa #18 Jackson, Auburn #29 Wilson, UGA #39 Hunt, ULaLa #58 Cleveland, Boise State #69 Lewis, LSU #72 Jones, Houston
All G5’s have that hot period and theirs (TCU) was during the time of the MWC which was a step ahead of CUSA perception wise so they attracted a slightly better athlete in some cases who may have needed a year or two before blossoming
He was projected to go much higher though and some thought he would be off the board on day 1. He outperformed many of the linemen taken before him in predraft workouts and speculations were that teams were hesitant because of the AAC. I think if he were from Texas A&M or Alabama, he probably would have went higher. It’s why I speculate that Jarrid Williams just transferred.
All you have to do is look at the actual draft and then look at the various mock drafts by Kiper and the other guys on ESPN and the NFL Network. You will see that a whole bunch of those who were projected as 1st round picks went in 2nd, 3rd, or even later rounds. Those projections and mock drafts mean nothing to the people actually doing the drafting.
I assume you meant to tag me in this post.
So, then you’re saying Jones wasn’t as good as we thought he was? In your original post, you mentioned that scouts don’t miss anyone and he has a better chance to stand out at a good G5 as opposed to a P5. Yes, he was picked at a good spot but he could have been better based on the talent that WE know he has. I remember on draft night on this very board where many who were shocked that he had not been picked up in the first round. There were NFL coaches, including Kingsbury who were shocked to see him still available there. It’s interesting to note the several offensive linemen taken first on that list all went to P5’s.