The Mac Jones Era is Over in NE as He's Being Traded to Jacksonville

There's going to be a lot to process here. For me, this is personal. Mac Jones was the one who began to fill the GOAT-shaped hole in my heart. The one who was going to bring us back to glory:

… not lead us into darkness. 

And for one glorious season he looked exactly like that guy. He beat out Cam Newton for the starting quarterback's job despite spending all of camp practicing with the backups. He was a couple of ridiculously productive couple of weeks by Ja'Marr Chase (an 11-catch, 266-yard, 3 touchdown monster of a game against Kansas City in Week 16) away from being the 2021 Rookie of the Year. He was good in high pressure moments, like outplaying Tom Brady in his return to Gillette on Sunday Night Football. He rebounded well from his mistakes, like bouncing back from throwing a pick-6 to Trevon Diggs with a 75-yard TD to Kendrick Bourne on the very next play. He guided them to a 7-game win streak and a Wild Card berth. It would've taken the blackest of hearts to not feel like our future with Jones was all blue skies and clear visibility as far as the eye could see. 

But here we are. Not five days ago we had a heart-to-heart about this situation:

I pointed out that the Cowboys gave the 49ers a 4th rounder for Trey Lance, despite the fact he has four career starts. And cited people who seem to think Jones would only bring a 5th rounder. Because the jury is still out on Lance, but has come back with a verdict on Jones and found him guilty of sucking in the 1st degree. Now we find out the Patriots couldn't even get that for him. 

If I really wanted to die on the hill of defending Jones, I'd blame his downfall on Bill Belichick's decision to put Matt Patricia in charge of the offense in 2022. But I'm not willing to lay down my precious life so easily. It was a contributing factor, to be sure. But football is a harsh, unforgiving world. It's Arrakis with Gatorade. Guys get coached by men of varying degrees of competence all the time. Hell, Jones' new teammate Trevor Lawrence was drafted by Urban Meyer, for heaven's sake. The truly great ones endure, persevere and overcome. The ones who need conditions to be just right in order to succeed won't last long. 

Besides, in 2023 Jones had everything he needed. The Patriots organization course-corrected and got him the exact OC he needed. Someone who'd not only coached this system at a high level, but actually worked with him at Alabama for a while. And under Bill O'Brien, he played like a quarterback who's worth a 6th round pick. There's no spinning it any other way. He lost his confidence, and in doing so lost that of his teammates, his coaches, and New England fans. It might have all started with Patricia, but that's irrelevant. He had the opportunity to turn his career back around and instead just sped up it's downward trajectory. 

Still, count me among those who'll still be rooting for the guy. Hoping that he finds whatever quality he needs to turn this next phase of his career into a redemption tour. In the way that Baker Mayfield seems to have. And in a perfect world, maybe he lands in a situation where he's able to achieve his maximum potential. To become a tale of triumphing over adversity in the way Jim Plunkett and Kurt Warner did. But for now, the best any Mac fan can hope for is that he lands the QB2 job in Jacksonville. And even that is no guarantee. 

How the mighty have fallen. Sad. Very, very sad.

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

Sad. Very, very sad.