It's Never Too Early for 2022 Mock Drafts, Unless You Have Emory Jones Going Sixth Overall

There is no such thing as too early for NFL mock drafts. They're the lifeblood of content on May Fridays when there's nothing else going on. And that being the case, we have to talk about Florida's Emory Jones projected to be the No. 6 overall pick next year.

If you don't even know who Emory Jones is, you're certainly not alone. Jones has been Florida's backup quarterback for the last three seasons and has attempted just 86 passes. But it's not like Jones is some sort of elite signal caller who's been waiting in the wings for his shot. We've seen him play.

In addition to his 86 pass attempts — with seven touchdowns and one interception — he's rushed for 514 yards on 92 attempts. We've seen him have the ball in his hands. And he was more than serviceable as a change of pace and different look from Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask. But if he was that much better than either of those guys, as this projection would seem to indicate, would he not have been the starter at some point in the last three years?

Now, I suppose the counterargument would be something to the effect of, "You would have looked crazy if you put Zach Wilson No. 2 overall this time last year." Which, yes, you would have. But we had at least seen Wilson be a starter for two years and make plays like this one:

What has anyone seen out of Jones that makes this a defensible projection? If he was good enough to be a top 10 pick, he would have been playing over Trask and he sure as hell would have been playing over Franks. We've seen Jones start one game in which he completed eight of 16 passes for 86 yards in a 55-20 loss to Oklahoma — and he only started after Trask opted out.

I asked fellow watcher of SEC football Brandon Walker what he thought of this projection just to make sure there wasn't something I was missing and his response was, "I think that makes a mockery of that mock draft." And as I have long said, if Brandon and I agree on anything, that's generally a good indicator that it's true.

I guess we're just extending the Emory Jones hype that has existed since he arrived in Gainesville into his first year as the starter and all the way to the point of being the third quarterback taken in the NFL Draft. That's simply not going to happen.