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Despite Hype, Cardale Jones Isn’t a Surefire NFL Prospect Yet

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In the wake of Ohio State’s 42-20 thrashing of Oregon in last night’s College Football Playoff Championship game, the hype around OSU’s Cardale Jones is in full swing — especially now that he is eligible to declare for the 2015 NFL Draft.

Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports wrote an article about how intriguing it would be if Jones declared and how his availability might shake up the quarterback landscape. Jones entering the draft would be interesting and add another name to discuss, but would him declaring really shake things up that much? Probably not.

It’s very true that after Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, there is no clear-cut third-best quarterback. It could be Brett Hundley, Bryce Petty, Shane Carden or even Garrett Grayson. No one knows for sure yet, but what NFL scouts are going to have on those players that they won’t on Jones is game tape.

All this puts Jones in a difficult spot. Under normal circumstances the best move for him would be to return to OSU next year and increase his stock.  But with Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett possibly in the picture, Jones isn’t even guaranteed to start next season. Barrett played very well in place of Miller until an injury took him out, so it’s reasonable to think that he would have an edge over Jones. If Jones can’t edge either one (or both) out, he’s returning to a cold bench all next season. And if he declares now, all he’ll have is a little game tape to show scouts.

Remember, Jones has a 94-pass college career. Just 94 passes, that’s it. That’s the equivalent of about three, maybe four games for a full-time starting college quarterback. No one can get a full read on what Jones can or can’t do consistently with that little tape to look at. 94 passes isn’t a whole lot of time to develop your game or iron out the wrinkles.

Plus, you have to be honest: Jones did not throw OSU on his back and lead them to glory. Here are his stats: 16-of-23 for 242 yards, one touchdown with one interception, 21 rushes for 38 yards with a touchdown and two fumbles. Did he play well enough to win that game? Absolutely he did. But giving Jones as much credit for that win as the hype around him would suggest is a major discredit to running back Ezekiel Elliott.

Ultimately, I think Jones will (and should) declare for the upcoming draft and strike while the iron is hot. And I think he’s good enough to be a late-round draft pick — there’s upside with him for sure. But he’s going to be very, very raw. He’s going to be hundreds of passes and game minutes behind the other quarterbacks, and he’ll need to be on a team that can afford to bring him along at the right speed.

Celebrate his play last night and give him his due for being a champion. But discussing him as possibly the “best of the rest” is very premature. Jones still has a long way to go. There’s just too much work yet to be done.

Doug Green is a blogger for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL 

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