NCAA football analyst: Cardale Jones a good pick in draft’s later rounds

No matter what one thinks of Carson Palmer as a quarterback, the one thing everyone can likely agree on is that at 36 years of age, his career is closer to its end than its beginning.

And no matter how well he is playing — last season he posted career highs in passing yards, touchdown passes and QB rating while being named to his third Pro Bowl (and first since 2006) — there will, until a young and viable replacement is found, continue to be a lingering fear that once his skills diminish or he decides to call it quits, the Cardinals will struggle to maintain their current level of excellence.

Anyone who followed the Cardinals in the post-Kurt Warner/pre-Palmer days understands just how bad things can get without a quality quarterback.

Whether a Palmer replacement will be needed this season, next season or the one after that (his contract is set to expire following the 2017 season), the Cardinals are well aware that at some point in the near future they will need to have a someone who can take over at the most important position in sports.

Picking 29th in the first round of this year’s draft, odds are the top QB prospects like Carson Wentz and Jared Goff will be long gone by the time the Cardinals are on the clock, which is why at his golf tournament a couple weeks ago, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, with a smile, said “I would say that’s a lock” when asked if Wentz would be the choice if he’s still on the board when Arizona is ready to make a pick.

After those two, there may not be another passer worthy of being chosen among the first 32 picks, especially by a Cardinals team that seems to be this close to the Super Bowl.

So, if they don’t choose a QB in the first round, the Cardinals may look to later in the draft to find a prospect.

Thus far, they have been linked to a few players, including Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott, Louisiana Tech’s Jeff Driskel and Western Kentucky’s Brandon Doughty. But a new name has emerged, and it’s one that is well-known to football fans and offers a tantalizing blend of potential and results.

Ohio State’s Cardale Jones.

Jones told Sirius/XM Radio he has a private workout scheduled with the Cardinals, and in a lot of ways it makes sense. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound player has the kind of size Arians likes in a quarterback, and with proper coaching could develop into a very good player.

But according to ESPN NCAA Football analyst Chris Spielman, Jones has a long way to go before he reaches his full potential.

“I would think that Cardale would probably be the first one to admit that,” he told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Wednesday morning. “I think one thing about Cardale, if you watch him and study him is that, like a lot of young guys, and probably the problem that RGIII has, is that their anticipation of throws isn’t quite where it needs to be right now and throwing guys open or being a spot-thrower is probably not where guys are.

“I think Cardale, does have the big arm, he’s a good worker. I think for Cardale, is he worth a draft pick? Absolutely. Is it in the first three rounds? Third round at the earliest, for me.”

Projections on where Jones is likely to be chosen are all over the map. The NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah sees him being taken in the second round while CBS Sports lists him as a likely fourth our fifth-round pick.

Thing is, all it takes is one coach or general manager to fall in love with him, which is very possible given his size and athletic ability. However, his body of work is thin, as he threw just 270 passes in three seasons at Ohio State, completing 167 of them for 2,323 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran for four scores.

Oh, and he led the Buckeyes to a College Football Playoff Championship in 2015.

Whatever team lands Jones will have a project on its hands. In terms of athletic ability and potential, the Cardinals chose a similar quarterback in 2014 when they took Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas in the fourth round. He was released during the final roster cuts prior to the 2015 season.

Just because Thomas did not pan out for the team does not mean Jones would not, though his story could serve as a bit of a cautionary tale with regards to early expectations. Maybe Jones will be a team’s starting quarterback in the future, but it will take time.

“My whole thing on quarterbacks, and the No. 1 physical attribute that quarterback needs to have is accuracy,” Spielman said. “And accuracy comes with timing and accuracy comes with trusting and seeing.

“Like a lot of quarterbacks in college, because in college, with all the spread offenses, that guys aren’t having to throw people open a lot; they’re throwing check-downs and they’ll throw a deep ball and let a guy run under it, but rarely do we see that guy throw to a spot and out of nowhere here comes his receiver.”

Spielman added the NFL is a different game and requires the quarterback to have a different level of skill.

“What’s covered in college is open in the NFL,” he said. “And that’s meaning you have to put the ball exactly where it needs to be. If it needs to be low and away, that ball needs to be low and away or it’s picked and going the other way.”

Jones could have that ability in him, or he could need to learn it. If it’s the latter, there’s always a chance he won’t. That is the risk every team takes when drafting a quarterback, though while Spielman said he’s never sat in a film room with Jones and been able to ascertain what kind of ability he will have to pick up an NFL offense, he noted he’s never heard a bad thing about him.

“I’ve never heard that he doesn’t get it,” he said. “I think he’s a bright kid, as far as football goes. He’s a kid full of life and likes to have fun, but I never heard a bad thing about the guy. Some stupid tweet as a freshman, I mean, all college kids make dumb mistakes or stupid mistakes, and you learn from them.

“I think again, when you’re talking about his size and his ability and what he can potentially grow into, you’re not going wrong if it’s late in the third, fourth, fifth — wherever it is. If you can get him in the back end of the draft it’s even better because the reward far outweighs the risk in my opinion once you get to a certain point in the draft.”

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