Jonathan Jones shares his thoughts on Mac Jones’ potential originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Mac Jones has his fair share of doubters after a rocky sophomore season, but Jonathan Jones isn’t one of them.
The New England Patriots cornerback, who’s set to become a free agent on March 15, is a believer in Mac despite the young quarterback’s tumultuous campaign. In an exclusive 1-on-1 with our Phil Perry, Jonathan shared his thoughts on Mac’s potential to develop into one of the better signal-callers in the NFL.
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“He has all the tools. He has the mechanics to be a quarterback in this league and a top quarterback in this league,” he told Perry. “I think it’s just going to come down to the right situations and getting that consistency, and just continuing to develop.
“I look at myself coming in undrafted, it’s a process. I think a lot of people want ready-made results and that’s just not always the case. But as long as he continues to strive to get better, it’ll always work out .”
As a rookie, Mac Jones was undoubtedly the top QB from the 2021 draft class. The 15th overall pick looked like the future of the franchise as he led the Patriots into the playoffs and placed second in Rookie of the Year voting.
His second season — with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge replacing offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels — did not go as smoothly. He missed three games with a high ankle sprain, sparking a mini-QB controversy with backup Bailey Zappe. On multiple occasions he was seen voicing his frustrations with the play-calling. The Patriots missed the postseason.
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Year 3 will be a pivotal one for Mac, especially with Bill O’Brien taking over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Jonathan Jones believes the change will pay dividends for Mac and the Pats offense.
“I definitely think it’ll help,” Jonathan Jones told Perry. “I think Bill O’Brien can bring the insight from the history of offense that he knows and hopefully Mac can learn a lot from that and they can get some things working together to get the offense on a good page.”
You can watch the full interview with Jonathan Jones below: