Arriving as the No. 15 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, quarterback Mac Jones made 42 starts with ... [+]
Mac Jones’ window with the New England Patriots has come to a close ahead of the new league year.
The organization agreed to trade the 25-year-old quarterback to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, as first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN. A sixth-round selection, slotted at No. 192 overall in the 2024 NFL draft, will be heading to Foxborough as part of the exchange.
Pending the passing of a physical, the move will be finalized after free agency officially begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Jones, a Jacksonville native who attended The Bolles School, will return home as the backup to 2021 draft classmate and former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. He will do so after making 42 starts under center with the Patriots.
Arriving as a national champion, first-team All-SEC selection, Davey O’Brien Award winner and unanimous All-American, the University of Alabama product finished his rookie season as a Pro Bowl alternate. Yet after going 10-7 on the way to an appearance in the AFC wild card, and completing 67.6% of his passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, the trajectory shifted.
Jones went 6-8 as New England’s starter in 2022 while assistants Joe Judge and Matt Patricia stepped in to replace Josh McDaniels’ duties as offensive coordinator. A high ankle sprain was sustained in the midst of his sophomore NFL campaign. He finished it with a 65.2% completion rate on the way to 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions through the air. And in 2023, following coordinator Bill O’Brien’s return as well as go-to receiver Jakobi Meyers’ exit in free agency, the early promise grew distant.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Jones went 2-9 under center before becoming a spectator. At MetLife Stadium in November, the team captain played his final snap prior to halftime in a 10-7 loss to the New York Giants.
The result was a sack and a fumble. It marked the fourth in-game benching of the year. Jones remained active but did not take the field for the next five weeks. The former No. 15 overall pick ultimately became the emergency No. 3 quarterback for the season finale versus the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.
Fellow signal-callers Bailey Zappe and Nathan Rourke stood ahead of him on the depth chart by then. Both remain under contract, with the latter recently retained for 2024 as an exclusive-rights free agent.
By the end of his final run with the Patriots, Jones had completed 64.9% of his attempts for 2,120 yards. Ten touchdowns were logged. A dozen interceptions and a trio of fumbles also were. He was sacked 22 times.
A fresh start is ahead for Jones, who carries a $2.785 million base salary into the final year of rookie contract with an option pending. The same holds true for New England.
Head coach Jerod Mayo and director of scouting Eliot Wolf now stand with eight selections in April’s draft, beginning with the No. 3 overall pick. And there, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels loom atop the projected QB board behind USC’s Caleb Williams.
