It's Actually Astonishing to See How Far Mac Jones Has Fallen in Just 4 Seasons
How it started:
How it's going:
I believe it's one of those common life experiences we all have where you bump into someone you once had some romantic interest in, many years down the road. Maybe at a high school reunion, a wedding, a funeral or what have you. But upon reconnecting with them, you realize you truly dodged a bullet. That the years had not be kind to them. And whatever physical attraction you once had for them, it's now long gone. Buried deep like some ancient artifact under sedimentary layers of Chunky Monkey or Jameson's and Gingers. You don't have to have any ill will to that old flame to appreciate how lucky you are that things never worked out for you the way you once hoped they would.
Which is exactly where I am with Mac Jones. I make no effort to hide how enthusiastic I was about him when he fell to the Patriots with the 15th pick in 2021. He was all I wanted in a quarterback. A winner, coming off a 13-0 National Championship season. With an immense 36-for-45, 464-yard, 5 TD game in the Natty. A guy who was of course surrounded by future NFL 1st round talent. But one who commanded that huddle filled with Alphas. Someone who could process information as the Patriots system demanded, make pre-snap reads, and understand where he was going with the ball before anyone else. Just what the franchise needed to get back to its winning ways after the horrors of going one (1) full season without making the playoffs.
And for a year, it was all looking so good. OK, make that the middle of a year. A missed field goal at the end of regulation led to a loss toTom Brady's Bucs on Sunday Night Football. What followed was an 8-1 record, with the only loss coming to Dallas in overtime, and all the optimism you could ask for. Our future seemed to be in the best of hands.
But looking back, it was just fool's gold. This team and its quarterback were not nearly as good as they'd looked. The last game of that win streak was played in a wind tunnel in Buffalo, where Jones attempted all of three passes. Then came four losses in the next five games, two of those coming to the Bills, including the Wild Card game. Still, Jones made the Pro Bowl:
… and seemed to have arrived. He looked for all the world like the quarterback of our future.
I have to confess I placed all the blame for what happened next on the narrow lap of Matt Patricia. And to him, I owe my deepest and most sincere apology. He and Joe Judge might have been there for Jones' decline and fall, but it looks more every day they weren't responsible for it. That 2022 season was a long time ago in NFL terms. And it's become painfully (that's the exact right word) obvious that what he's become since is what he truly is. He played over his head for a while, but he's returned to the mean. Water has sought it's own level. NFL defenses have figured Jones out. And to steal a phrase from the man who drafted him, somehow coaxed 10 wins out of him as a rookie, grew frustrated with him, benched and released him, Mac Jones is what he is.
Your eyes are definitely not deceiving you, so you need no further proof. But here are the numbers. Note that his very decent game against Houston last week doesn't factor in here because he came off the bench when Taylor Lawrence was almost knocked into an early grave by Azeez Al-Shaair. But here are his last five starts:
More over, here is how he ranks in the league (minimum 106 dropbacks):
Yards per attempt: 37th
TD%: 35th
INT%: 2nd highest
Yards per attempt: 37th
Big time throw %: 36th
Passer rating: 41st
In other words, in order for him to qualify as an actual NFL starting quarterback, the league would have to expand to at least 10 new teams. And even then Jones would be the worst. Right now, he can't even achieve that status.
To be very clear, I am saddened by this, not gladdened. I may have been frustrated by his failures from 2022-23, but by no means was I ever rooting against him. And I'll go to my grave making it clear I was never one of those poor, misguided souls who fell for the Bailey Zappe hype. But when it came to Jones, I was out front, swinging the baton and leading the marching band. Unfortunately, I turned out to be Stork:
I'd love nothing more than to see Mac Jones resurrect his career. America loves a good redemption story and I love America, so bring it on. If he were to ever win a Super Bowl MVP against any team but my own, I'd rejoice. But for now, the best any of his former fans can do is hope he can achieve less-than-averageness. Because anything close to the real promise like he showed as a rookie feels utterly impossible right now.
So at this point, Pats fans who once believed in him can only be grateful for two things. First, his team actually winning a game despite him helped our draft position:
And two, that we didn't marry this one. Our future present and future is so much brighter because this relationship didn't work out. We dodged the biggest of bullets.