ESPN “First Take” co-host Max Kellerman on Tuesday sounded off on the fall of former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and the rise of former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones ahead of this week’s upcoming NFL Draft.
With former Clemson signal-caller Trevor Lawrence widely considered a lock to go first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, most discussion has been about who would be the next quarterback taken between Fields, Jones, former BYU quarterback Zach Wilson and former North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance.
Kellerman said he would “defer” to the wisdom of the experts and coaches but pointed out a “correlation” could be made that if a quarterback falls on draft boards, that it tends to be a black quarterback like Fields rather than a white one. He lamented that the upcoming draft board looks to be “white guy, white guy, white guy.”
“I will say this — I think what rubs people the wrong way, maybe like you, Stephen A., I know it’s on my radar,” Kellerman said of Fields’ draft stock. “Sometimes, quarterbacks rise, sometimes they fall, but what I’ve noticed, in recent years after decades of artificial barriers being put in place for quarterbacks is that vis-a-vis white quarterbacks, black quarterbacks in the draft tend to fall pre-draft — their evaluations.”
He added, “And sometimes, it’s right, like Daniel Jones looks like he’s going to be better than Dwayne Haskins. And sometimes it’s wrong, like Mitch Trubisky is not as good as Deshaun Watson or certainly not Patrick Mahomes, right? … But the point is the correlation that can be made, is that your status falls, vis-a-vis white quarterbacks, and so that’s why my antenna are up when I notice one, two and three this year – white guy, white guy, white guy. But that may be correct. Like, we need to see in the end … how these guys turn out as pros.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.