The Patriots have agreed to trade quarterback Mac Jones to the Jaguars, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Although the deal cannot be finalized until the new league year opens on Wednesday and until Jones passes a physical, it appears that Jones — a Jacksonville native — will try to resurrect his career in his hometown.
Schefter reported that New England and Jacksonville were discussing a sixth-round pick as trade compensation, and Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network confirms that a sixth-round choice (No. 192 overall) is the official return for Jones. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says four teams were in the mix for the Alabama product, though Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports says that, as of yesterday, the Jags were the only club to make an offer. Albert Breer of SI.com adds that New England was seeking a fifth-rounder before ultimately settling for the sixth.
A report from late last month suggested that the Patriots had a three-step plan in place for addressing their quarterback situation this offseason, and trading Mac Jones was one of those three steps. While there was some pushback on the notion that New England had developed some sort of QB flowchart that had been distributed throughout the organization, it has seemed clear for some time that the club would seek a Jones trade, which would represent a beneficial change of scenery for both player and team. Now, the Pats can focus on adding a veteran to their roster and/or acquiring a top collegiate prospect in the draft. The most recent rumors on the draft front have indicated that if Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels are off the board by the time New England is on the clock with the No. 3 pick, the club will trade back.
While Jones is obviously not a threat to unseat Trevor Lawrence as the Jaguars’ starting quarterback, he will have an opportunity to regain his footing while working with Lawrence — whom he has known for years, as the two frequently competed against each other in high school recruiting camps — and head coach Doug Pederson, a celebrated quarterback whisperer. Jones, the Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2021, clearly has potential that may have been stunted by the Patriots’ coaching and schematic maneuvers in 2022, and as he enters the final year of his rookie contract, Pederson & Co. will try to unlock some of that potential and at least turn Jones into a viable backup.
Another factor in the trade is the health of current backup C.J. Beathard, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler details. Per Fowler, Beathard has been “banged up,” so the Jones acquisition gives the Jags a healthy QB2 option. The nature and extent of Beathard’s injury is unclear, and so is his future with the club at this point, though ESPN’s Mike Reiss says Jones and Beathard are expected to compete for the backup job.
The Jaguars will still have a sixth-round compensatory choice (No. 212 overall) in the 2024 draft.
Smart move. Jags struggled once Trevor got injured and Mac can be one of the best backups in the league.
So, you didn’t watch Jones last season?
I mean, that’s how he became a backup, so yes.
That’s not a team I would have expected to trade for Jones.
Agreed, I expected maybe Minnesota Seattle Denver..
Lmao same bro. My picks were for Rams or Cardinals as young healthy backups
Nothing motivates a “Generational Talent” more then a little competition.
Happy for Mac, he needed to get out of that city.
Mac Jones is competition? Maybe for the backup spot
If there’s a backup in the league who ‘could’ challenge, it would be him. And anything can happen in this league. Glanville said it best – “NFL stands for Not For Long…”
It actually stands for No Fun League.
Mac jones isn’t competing for anything except a roster spot. He isn’t sniffing starting reps unless there is an injury to TL.
LOL. Mac Jones was barely competition for Bailey Zappe. His competition is with CJ Beathard not Trevor Lawrence
He’s a Jacksonville native. The Patriots didn’t just trade him. They sent him to his room.
Sounds like a win for Mac Jones. Sprung from the clown show and gets paid to go home.
Well, that is something I didn’t see coming.
Lawrence put on notice
Wow for a 6th? Lots of teams would’ve given that, or more.
Apparently not, otherwise they would have traded him for the “more” part.
Hahaha…well it’s hard to argue with that logic
And yet some people will.
I thought that the sixth round pick was kind of a lot. You can draft a QB like Tom Brady or Brock Purdy in the sixth or seventh round and have them on a four-year rookie contract.
@larkraxm
Huh? The Jags have drafted Jake Luton, Brandon Allen & Gardner Minshew in the sixth round and I don’t think any of those guys are being compared to Tom Brady.
I didn’t say that a sixth rounder was a guaranteed Brady. I’m saying the lottery ticket is worth more than Mac Jones.
Considering the entirety of the QB class of the sixth round, I’d say that Jones is probably worth more. Supply and demand is a fickle mistress, though. Most of the teams who need QBs will be able to find a younger, less tarnished prospect pretty easily this offseason.
The Pats may have consulted him on places he’d like to go since he got shafted by bad coaching for all those years. Jacksonville is home…
Oh yeah going home now his mom can make him pizza rolls after practice.
Tha Pats should send along a pallet of pizza rolls after that whole Patricia debacle. Maybe he can redeem himself with better coaching…
Remember Pats fans crowing when they wasted a #15 pick on him.
“Bill belly playing chess while everyone else
Is playing checkers”
“Going from one hall of famer to another”
“AFCE going to be mad when the Pats continue to dominate”
lol.. those were fun times.
And the greatest untold story of the 2023 season was the Patriots’ spectacular collapse all the way to the #3 pick in the Draft.
How exactly was that untold?
It was unfolding in real time most every game day, yet the National Sports Media continued to worship Belichick in the way they worship the car-crashing womanizer Tiger Woods.
We must watch different national media. The media I was watching couldn’t stop talking about the Patriot’s collapse and were projecting the whole season that Belichick would be fired when the dumpster fire was over. Then he didn’t get another job during the hiring season. Tiger Woods?? You are the first one I have heard mention Tiger Woods in six years! I think you need to stop watching so much TV and read a book.
Belichick should have been sacked at Halloween when it became obvious his team was going nowhere. Yet the sports media, especially in New York, continued to put him on a pedestal.
I live on the West Coast. That wasn’t the coverage we were seeing. The narrative was that if he wasn’t “Bill Belichick” he would have been fired already and that he would certainly be fired after the season, and then he was. No pedestals. A moderate amount of respect to a coach that helped a franchise win a lot of games by not firing him mid-season. Especially since the team was already done no matter who coached them.
Yeah, bc every other team in the NFL hits on EVERY single pick and their fan bases are so super intelligent that they dont hype up their picks until the season…
You are upset bc the Pats fans were happy they drafted a QB?
The HATE for NE is awesome. I believe all New Englanders add minutes to their lives every time we read other fans opinions on the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics or Bruins…
BTW Bill B. has 6 superbowl rings, wasnt he playing chess?
Typical of the Dumb Sportsball Fan mentality. Belichick’s Patriots were more hated than Real Madrid or Manchester United.
Here’s what was awesome about that 2023 season: Swept by Miami. Smoked by Dallas. Shut out at home not once, but twice. Having a home game vs. Kansas City flexed out of Monday Night Football. Best of all, from my point of view, the Jets ending the career of a serial cheater who turned them down almost 25 years earlier.
hahaha is that what all this hatred is about? jealousy that he turned your team down?
Nyheim Hines would like a word with you.
Turned the Jets down because they were/are a clown show, won 6 super bowls. I think that was a smart move by Bill.
Tom Brady was playing chess…that’s been proven
Yeah, but this is the “afterstory” unfortunately nobody swings back around to, talking about the topic again and admitting how they got things terribly wrong (sound familiar?) just three-four years ago. If you do try and bring it up, to set the story straight, then you’re labeled a “this-ist” or a “that-ist”. Past issues include the Duke Lacrosse team, Matt Araiza and others not in sports that come to mind.
Jaguars dominating the 2021 quarterback draft class
Up next. Jacksonville signs Trey Lance to convert him into a WR or TE
6’4” 226
Naw. Kenny Pickett goes down to Jacksonville because you can never have too many clipboard holders
wrong class. that’d be zach wilson’s job. fields at rb.
Thought we were collecting former 1st round QBs?
you have the right class, t.o.d. doesn’t.
Watch Pickett blossom under a new OC
No chance the Jags would ever trade Lawrence for a haul that would last for the next ten years.
Good trade for the Jags since he has one more year until his 5th year option kicks in and they can turn that 6th round pick they gave up into a 4th or 5th next year to a QB needy team when the draft class isn’t as deep.
This a good move by the Jags. Hometown backup QB that has some NFL game experience and is still young. He makes mistakes but is going to place that has a good Head Coach who can get the best out of his QB’s. Can you say Nick Foles?
For only a 6th, NE should’ve just kept him as a cheap backup.
They can draft a QB with that extra 6th rounder. Brady was picked in the 6th round. Purdy was the last pick in the 7th. They didn’t want him around anymore.
He’d burnt bridges with teammates. Was time to give him a change of scenery.
Jones is a former 1st round pick, so he is not that cheap for a guy who sucks as bad as he does. Zappe will make less than half of what Jones will this year and he can hold a clipboard just as well.
Mac Jones is garbage, and trading him away gives NE gets more salary cap room.
Every CB and Safety from the Texans, Titans and Colts said to themselves, let’s hope Trevor gets hurt so we can boost our INT’s and Pick Sixes.
I think Jags were surprised they got him. Pats were looking for a 5th. Jags low balled with a 6th. No other takers, they got him by default. A QB with exp and a former 1at rounder for a 6th and a one yr 2.7 mil contract. Well alrighty then. Let’s see what a change of scenery brings.
He has the talent; the Patriots shattered his confidence with lousy coaching and lousy players around him. Hopefully, he can get things turned around.
He does NOT have the talent.
His lack of talent kind of was the problem. Some of us said he looked like a backup when Belichick was successfully scheming around him the first half of his rookie year. For all the talk that Patricia ruined him, the downfall started the year before. The guy is physically limited and not a super smart QB on the fly. It’s why he would throw so many picks in critical moments. DCs always fooled him. It was painful to watch.
Has anyone here watched Mac the Hack?
Weak arm , bad foot work and terrible decision maker. Mac was vocal at times in his second year with complaints. His team mates did not trust him.
He probably was a Bob Kraft decision and was forced on the team. Bob Kraft loves to talk about what a fantastic owner he is. Looks like the truth is coming out. Last in spending over past 10 years. Facilities are sub par. Ownership doesn’t take care of the players. The Patriots and Sox are both owned by hypocrites.