Five offensive players Washington Football Team should watch during the Senior Bowl

With Washington drafting at the 19th pick, they’re going to have few options to select a young quarterback. They’ll either have to move into the top-10 picks (more likely top eight) to draft one of the Big 4 passers in this class or they’ll have to settle for the fifth-best passer either with the 19th pick or via a trade back into the first round.

Mac Jones would qualify as the consensus QB5 in this year’s draft class, but his stock is continuing to heat up. The third-place finisher in the Heisman trophy voting has been a terrific starter during his time with the Crimson Tide and kept the team relevant after taking over for an injured Tua Tagovailoa last season.

In 2020, Jones completed 77.4 percent of his passes for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns, and four picks. He did that against an All-SEC schedule plus two College Football Playoff games against Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Jones throws with amazing accuracy and ball placement, and that is what keyed a lot of his success. Yes, he did play with a lot of great weapons and behind one of the nation’s best offensive lines, but he still delivered quality passes consistently and showed off good arm strength. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more consistent quarterback in this class not named Trevor Lawrence.

Sure, some have concerns about Jones’ lack of athletic ability compared to other quarterback prospects, but he shouldn’t need to scramble to be effective. He’ll need to be able to show some escapability, but if he shows an ability to make plays off-script, he should be fine.

Many wanted to see what Jones looked like outside of the Alabama system, so the Senior Bowl was important for him. By all accounts, he has been one of the best — if not, the best — quarterback at practice this week. He has thrown “magnificent passes” and showed great anticipation on several throws throughout the week.

Washington will need to do their due diligence on Jones if they can’t get a veteran passer or trade up for more of a potential-packed player. Jones looks like a pro-ready player and if he can show off during the Senior Bowl, that will show that he was the main reason for the team’s success and not the Alabama system.

Washington could be in on all of the guys on this list or they could end up being in on none of them. No matter what happens though, they need to watch these players closely during the Senior Bowl, as all of them have a chance to emerge as contributors and potential upgrades for the Washington offense.