Mac Jones has lost support from the New England Patriots coaching staff and front office as the quarterback’s struggles from 2022 spill over into the offseason.
Jones enjoyed an impressive rookie season where he finished second to Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase in the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and was named to the Pro Bowl after leading the Patriots to the Play-Offs for the first time since Tom Brady's departure. However, he struggled to get to grips with the offence in 2022 as the Pats failed to reach the postseason on the back of his inconsistent play amid poor offensive staff.
It emerged that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has been reportedly shopping Jones to multiple franchises throughout the 2023 offseason. And those reports have been backed up by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, who has written that Belichick was disappointed in the way Jones handled adversity during the 2022 campaign as New England went 8-9.
Jones struggled with Belichick’s decision to install Matt Patricia, a defensive coach, as offensive coordinator and Joe Judge, a special teams coach, as quarterbacks coach. The 2021 first round pick’s inability to deal with these challenges appears to have cost him support from the coaching staff.
As a result, the Pats appear very open to moving off Jones - perhaps because of the presence of Bailey Zappe on the roster. After Jones went down with an injured ankle in the Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, backup quarterback Brian Hoyer got knocked out of the game against the Green Bay Packers so Zappe stepped in and impressed in several appearances.
In his first career start, the rookie - selected in the fourth round a year ago - led New England to a crushing 29-0 win over the Detroit Lions in Foxborough and he backed it on the road in a 38-15 win over the Cleveland Browns. When Jones was ready to return, many questioned if he should immediately get his job back and the 24-year-old ultimately never relinquished the starting job with fans clamouring for Zappe to return.
Amid the reports of Jones falling out with key members within the Pats organisation, New England owner Robert Kraft is an admirer of the quarterback. Speaking to reporters recently, Kraft said: “I’m a big fan of Mac.
“He came to us as a rookie. He quarterbacked in his rookie season and did a very fine job I thought. We made the Play-Offs. I think we experimented with some things last year that frankly didn’t work when it came to him, in my opinion.”
Kraft appears sympathetic to frustrations linked to the failed offensive experiment concerning Patricia and Judge. The Patriots struggled on offence in 2022 as they finished 32nd in red zone efficiency, and it led to Belichick refusing to name Jones as the starter ahead of the 2023 season.
