Column: Love for QBs not named Trevor Lawrence in draft a bit too strong

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a generational talent and the best player in this NFL Draft.

That’s why Urban Meyer took the Jacksonville job, and that’s why the Jaguars are drafting Lawrence No. 1 overall April 29, no questions asked.

But after Lawrence, the best players in this draft are not quarterbacks. So it’s a bit curious that the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers are acting with such certainty about BYU’s Zach Wilson and, if the rumors are true, Alabama’s Mac Jones.

Oregon left tackle Penei Sewell, Florida tight end Kyle Pitts and LSU wideout Ja’Marr Chase are potentially franchise-changing talents, and after Lawrence, they are the players who have most of the teams in the top 10 drooling.

Granted, quarterbacks are just treated differently. It’s the most important position. There is almost no prohibitive cost for landing a great one, and teams who don’t have one are desperate.

So maybe that’s what is happening here. Maybe desperation is ruling the top of this draft.

I just find it strange that a QB such as Wilson, who played behind a strong offensive line against weak competition, is being treated as such a sure thing over some of these other blue-chip prospects — let alone over Sam Darnold, who I believe will light it up in Joe Brady’s Carolina Panthers offense.

I find it unusual that the Niners’ aggressive trade up would be for Jones, who many evaluators considered a late-first/early-second round prospect before Kyle Shanahan’s reported interest.

I find it incredibly off that the quarterback who buried Lawrence in last year’s College Football Playoff, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, isn’t the one jumping toward the top of the board.

Of course, everyone evaluates these players independently and comes to their own conclusions. Some teams are in different stages of the process than others, and that might dictate their desire or need to make a change for the long-term or go all-in now.

Also, when you’re selecting No. 2 overall and you love a quarterback, as the Jets do, you take him because he’s there and you hope to not be picking there again for a long time.

Plus there’s the combination of a weaker projected QB class next year, and this year’s uncertainty about so many prospects because of opt-outs and a compromised scouting process.

But I’m skeptical that suddenly three QBs are being fawned over as sure things, with Fields and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance also projected first-rounders, when only one QB has warranted that praise the whole way.

Lawrence is the one generational talent in this QB class — so good that the No. 1 pick has been set for months — and yet others are being treated as the sure No. 2 and 3 picks as if they are no-brainer moves.

I could be wrong. Wilson and Jones might become stars. But frankly, I think the Jets and Niners are doing every other team behind them a favor by locking on to these other QBs, because the better players are sliding down the board to their foes.