Cardale Jones Just Might Be the Next Tom Brady

It’s football season! Not real football season, but NFL preseason. The college game starts next Saturday, which is the real deal. However, I found myself at the local carryout purchasing my daily allotment of Natty Daddies and I glanced up on the screen.

It was live action football!

Specifically, it was a preseason “contest” between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers. We all know former Big Ten legend Drew Brees is going to lead the Saints this season. We also know that the Chargers are going to be led by Phillip Rivers. However, I caught the action in the second quarter, where third string Chargers QB Cardale Jones was trying to make something happen. After a nice read of a blitz where he audibled into a screen that netted 3 yards, he was faced with a 3rd and 7. As any NFL team worth their salt will do, the Saints challenged our hero with an all out blitz. 3rd string QBs should fold under pressure. Jones threw a dart and scored the TD.

It was an NFL throw from a guy that once bemoaned “playing school.”

I am pretty good about drawing analogies in sports. I go a little bit beyond the box. I always saw Cardale as the good guy Ben Roethlisberger, but from a big school. Yes there was a bit of off the field stuff, but small potatoes, at least in relation to Roethlisberger. Jones was a big guy that could throw the ball, extend the pocket, and had the “it” factor. However, tonight showed me he could be a bit more Tom Brady.

Is he going to dink and dunk a team down the field with his superior football knowledge, with very little athletic ability? No, but is he going to go from after-thought backup that sits in the stands during games to legend in the NFL?

Possibly.

He is in a perfect situation in sunny San Diego where Phillip Rivers only has a few more years left, Tyrod Taylor is no-ones solution as the main man, and Jones impresses, at least me.

This guy could go from 4th round pick (compared to Brady in the 6th), that split time in college with a gamer type qb (Barrett vs. Griese), that then becomes a full time starter. Heck, even the QB they replaced on the NFL level is similar. Phillip Rivers is pretty much Drew Bledsoe.

I am telling you, watch out for Cardale.