The Patriots need to sort out their issues with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge as the primary offensive brain trust. That’s clearly the top offseason priority, and the wheels are already turning in Foxboro to fix and clarify that situation, according to reports.
But there’s also another issue that goes hand in hand with numero uno: Mac Jones.
Specifically, can the Patriots resurrect their 2021 first-round pick and presumed quarterback of the future, or has too much damage been done for that to happen? And damage applies not only to his on-field performance, but also his relationship with the head coach, which could very well be the bigger issue.
Bill Belichick certainly doesn’t sound like he’s sold on Jones. The reasons go beyond Jones’ average arm strength and poor performance under pressure, which was the case in 2022. It likely didn’t sit well with Belichick having Jones show up his hand-picked coaches Patricia and Judge on game days.
The tantrums Jones threw when plays didn’t get in on time, brushing off Patricia with a dismissive hand wave during a timeout, and early on, telling reporters he and Judge would “teach each other” the offense, couldn’t have pleased Belichick.
In fact, you can almost trace Belichick’s remarks going from being totally supportive of Jones, and over-the-top with praise early on in the offseason, to lukewarm at best after Jones started to openly question the direction of the offense back in camp.
Case in point: he refused to name Jones the starter when he was healthy enough to return from injury earlier in the year. He wouldn’t say Jones would be the starter late in the year with three games to play. He didn’t stand up for Jones under accusations of him being a dirty player.
The latest?
Belichick refused to endorse Jones as his starting quarterback in 2023 during his end-of-season presser on Monday.
“Mac has the ability to play quarterback in this league,” was how Belichick began to answer a specific question about Mac being his starter next season. “We all have to work together to find the best way as a football team, which obviously the quarterback is an important position, to be more productive than we were this year. So that’s incumbent upon all of us. We’ll all work together on that.”
And now, there’s more fuel added to the fire, with NBC Sports’ Chris Simms saying Belichick found out that Jones called people around the league to voice his frustrations with the offense mid-season, and asked for ideas.
Ouch.
So Belichick’s less-than-enthusiastic responses about Jones make a lot more sense when put into context. Any coach would be angry over having his quarterback go behind his back, outside the organization to vent, not to mention blow up at the coaches during a game.
The problem?
Belichick is the one who put Jones in the situation where he ultimately lost his mind on the field, and also felt compelled to reach out to others seeking advice. He gave Jones two coaches who had never coordinated an offense, and also attempted to change an offense Jones excelled in last season. That was clearly the impetus for Jones' actions. He was dealt a difficult hand by his head coach.
That doesn't totally dismiss Jones' actions and behavior. He could have handled things in a much more mature manner, but it does provide an explanation. The question is whether both sides can get past what transpired.
Bottom line: Something has to give.
Either Belichick and Jones mend fences, figure it out, start over and are able to go forward, or there will be a huge problem that will once again put a strain on the 2023 season. Team owner Robert Kraft is a fan of Jones, who showed incredible promise as a rookie. Players in the locker room also support Jones. So there appears to be sides drawn.
Perhaps a new offensive coordinator, and running an offense more suited to Jones' strengths, will smooth everything over and mend a frayed relationship. But it sure seems like there has to be a "Come to Jesus" moment between Belichick and Jones. Either that, or intensive therapy sessions.
When has anyone ever come back from crossing Belichick?
"We'll begin to turn the page, and move on to do the things and start to do the things that we feel like we need to do to improve our team, be more competitive and have better results," Belichick said Monday. "However, that goes, I'm sure they'll be a number of different aspects to that. But as we do every year, evaluate everything, and try to make the best decisions we can to move forward, to be more competitive, to have a stronger team in the future.
"So, Robert (Kraft) and I will talk about that, talk about that as a staff and certainly individual conversations with many of the players, as we always do ... but there's some that are obviously more urgent or will be more timely than others. But it'll be a comprehensive course of action as it always is."
The situation with Jones is urgent, and needs to be reconciled. It goes beyond Jones having one good year and one bad year, and whether he's even capable of being a quarterback who can lead the Patriots back to bigger and better things.
It sits with the all-important coach-quarterback relationship. And right now, this one doesn't appear to be in a good place, and could determine if Jones is the guy going forward, or not.
