It’s quite a while ago now, but there was a time when it looked like the New England Patriots pulled one over on the 49ers. That was back in 2021, when New England appeared set to accelerate its post-Tom Brady plans with a bright young new quarterback, Mac Jones. The 49ers had considered drafting Jones out of Alabama in 2021 with the No. 3 overall pick, but instead picked Trey Lance.
It didn’t take long for Lance to flame out as an apparent bust, while Jones earned a spot in the Pro Bowl as a rookie, throwing for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Things unraveled from there, though, as Jones had his confidence shaken in Year 2, especially when he went out with an injury and saw backup Bailey Zappe outplay him, and win both starts with Jones out. The Patriots finished 2022 in a 2-5 swoon that lost them a playoff spot, and Jones was never the same.
Patriots Situation Was Chaos
After spending last year in Jacksonville, Jones has resurfaced with the team that was looking at him in 2021, the 49ers. He will back up Brock Purdy there, and spoke to the media about his role this week–throwing some shade at the Patriots in doing so.
Jones was asked what makes Kyle Shanahan’s offense quarterback-friendly, and considering went from Josh McDaniels to the dumpster-fire Matt Patricia/Joe Judge combo to the too-little-too-late Bill O’Brien experience, his answer can be seen as a slap at the Patriots offensive approach.
“I think that’s definitely a loaded question,” he said. “I think they do a great job explaining what the expectation of each play is and why they’re doing a certain play. And there’s nothing left up to doubt, if that makes sense. And everything’s based on timing and rhythm and also playing off structure. So, it has all three elements of quarterback play.
“And yeah, it’s really interesting to watch it and see how they see the game because it is the correct way to see it. And as you can tell, the quarterback play is very efficient.”
Mac Jones Takes Some Blame
While the clear message there is that the Patriots saw things the “incorrect” way, Jones, to his credit, did acknowledge that he bears some blame for what’s gone wrong in his previous stops–certainly, he did not handle failure well with the Patriots, either in terms of dealing with problems internally or with personal demeanor toward teammates.
He said he considers that when he looks back.
“I think just for me, just acknowledging what I could have done better,” Jones said. “Always looking inward and obviously learning from some great people along the way and then taking those scars and kind of brushing them off and using them as power because I think at some point those are going to help me and they have helped me, whether that’s here or in practice or maybe in a game in the future.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to is you may not think about a specific instance, but that’ll make you stronger in the long run. And like I said, I’m putting my new foot forward and trying to learn from a great organization.”
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