They’re starting to go quickly now. Just one day after Trevor Lawrence became the latest of the unsigned rookie first-round picks to ink his deal, Mac Jones is joining him.
The former Alabama quarterback has signed his rookie contract with the Patriots, a source told Field Yates of ESPN.com (Twitter link). New England, of course, took Jones 15th overall in the 2021 draft. For weeks leading up to the draft there were persistent rumors that the 49ers would take Jones at three, but obviously those turned out not to be true.
Instead Jones endured a bit of a slip, falling to the middle of the first-round where Bill Belichick was waiting to nab him. After a season where he put up gaudy numbers under Nick Saban, Jones is getting his first taste of pro ball with another legendary coach in Belichick.
His four-year pact, which comes with a team option for a fifth-year, is worth $15.6MM. All that money is guaranteed, and he’ll get a signing bonus of around $8.7MM. Now that his contract is settled, he can focus all his attention on the upcoming quarterback competition.
Jones is expected to face off against Cam Newton in what appears to be a truly open battle in training camp to be the team’s Week 1 starter. Jones took over for an injured Tua Tagovailoa down the stretch in 2019, and became Alabama’s full-time starter in 2020.
Although the starter for only one year, he sure made his mark. Jones threw for 41 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 14 games, averaging a ridiculous 11.2 yards per attempt and coming in third in the Heisman voting.
If he can’t beat out Cam, it’s not a good sign. Cam was awful last year.
While I partially agree- cause Cam sucks- the rookie learning curve is a thing. I don’t see the Pats planning a throw away year since they spent quite a bit in FA. Might be a bit before he unseats Cam. Maybe mid season
If he does beat out Cam…..
October 3rd will be an unbearable palaver of overpaid media mouths screaming over each other trying not to prove a point or offend anyone.
I doubt it will really be a quarterback competition. I highly doubt Bill starts a rookie qb week 1, no matter what Mac does in training camp
Jones is a technician, nothing more. His teammates rise to the top or he fails
I’ll take a technician with a 70%+ completion percentage any day! (not saying he’ll definitely achieve that in NFL).
with future NFL receivers wide open covered by future auto mechanics so I doubt it
Correction: Jones allows his teammates to show their full potential. Where you are correct is that he doesn’t have the incredible athleticism of a Michael Vick, Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers. It’s not necessary to be a great player – see Tom Brady or Drew Brees. Jones is a leader of men who makes his teammates shine. Third category and the worst is Kirk Cousins type QB who has the physical gifts but makes the men around him play worse. Why is this category the worst? Physical potential and garbage time play or play in unimportant games is good enough that a team just can’t bring themselves to cut the nincompoop.
Whether Jones can bring his game to the NFL is an open question. Mitchell Trubisky was supposed to be a sure thing. There’s so many hot first round QB’s who were supposed to change the NFL and either ended up holding a clipboard for ten years or out of the league in three.
There’s more than one way to play QB. The big issue is will his game translate to the NFL?
I have already seen AJ McCarron version 1. I can’t assume that AJ McCarron version 2 will be any better.