When the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones in the first round of this year’s draft, it marked the zenith of a new era for athletic college quarterbacks. Jacksonville’s pick showed that NFL teams are serious about using the athletic gifts of run-first quarterbacks, even if they have to change positions to accomplish it.

College football has always had its share of signal callers who possessed great athleticism and a commanding field presence but lacked the big-league arm that would allow them to play quarterback professionally. Many of those quarterbacks stopped playing football after college, or settled for playing in Canada.

Jacksonville’s decision to take Jones, a 6-foot-6, 230-pounder with 4.4-second speed in the 40-yard dash, showed that teams no longer question whether college quarterbacks can make the transition to another position. Although the switch happened occasionally in the past (it dates at least to Marlin Briscoe, who became pro football’s first black quarterback in 1968, then switched to receiver), an unprecedented number of the league’s receivers this year played quarterback in college.

Six NFL wideouts played quarterback almost exclusively: Jones, Oakland’s Ronald Curry (North Carolina), Pittsburgh’s Antwaan Randle El (Indiana), Tennessee’s Drew Bennett (UCLA), Baltimore’s Randy Hymes (Grambling St.), and San Francisco’s Rasheed Marshall (West Virginia). Another four NFL receivers split time in college between quarterback and receiver: Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward (Georgia), Arizona’s Anquan Boldin (Florida St.), San Francisco’s Arnaz Battle (Notre Dame), and Dallas’s Patrick Crayton (NW Oklahoma St.).

What sets Jones apart is that Jacksonville used a first-round pick on him. In the past, when scouts questioned a college quarterback’s ability to play receiver, teams could wait until late in the draft to take a chance. But the success over the past few seasons of players like Bennett, Randle El, and Curry has converted most skeptics. Jones, meanwhile, has showcased his natural versatility in his first two pro games with three catches for 31 yards, four runs for 35 yards, and one trick play on which he completed a six-yard pass.

No one ever doubted Jones’s athleticism, as evidenced by his 622 yards rushing as a senior and his spot on the Arkansas basketball team. But he had an unorthodox sidearm throwing motion and a tendency to underthrow receivers. At first, he insisted that he could play quarterback in the NFL, but he finally acquiesced to scouts’ requests at the Senior Bowl to try another position, and he excelled. At Senior Bowl practices, his terrific speed and soft hands made him the best receiver on the field. He also looked confident returning kicks.

Why has the position switch worked for Jones and so many others? Former quarterbacks have a strategic advantage – they enter the league with a superior understanding of how to study film and read defenses. And although for the most part they have only showcased their hands when catching shotgun snaps, quarterbacks who touch the ball on every play of their college careers frequently develop a much better sense of how to avoid tacklers than most receivers do.

The knock on converted quarterbacks usually centers on their inability to run crisp routes and block downfield. But coaches increasingly believe that a good athlete who’s a willing student can be taught to run routes, and blocking is more a matter of desire than experience.

The trend toward college quarterbacks becoming NFL receivers won’t go away. Many high school and college coaches want the ball in the hands of their best athlete, so they generally prefer quickness to passing ability in a quarterback. The NFL is still a passing league, so run-first, pass-second quarterbacks don’t have a place under center. But those great athletes can contribute elsewhere.

Mr. Smith writes for FootballOutsiders.com.