Is Mac Jones salvageable anywhere by anyone?

[sb1]

Zappe is the more interesting conversation

The smurf and his weak little arm will hopefully join his buddy McCorkle somewhere, anywhere far away from Foxboro next season.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

I don't know how anyone can watch the level of quarterbacking in the playoffs and even think someone with such a limited skillset as Mac Jones is worth salvaging.

Even if he's fixed and playing as his maximum level his ceiling is like noodle armed not as good version of Kirk Cousins, he can't throw in the elements, his arm is weak and he's mentally soft.

 

[Guts]

I doubt great, but that’s the only team I can see him being useful on.

I did say probably lol

 

[SammyBlueCat]

XFL

Time with a minor league of some sort *may* help him sort things out.

 

[Real fan 02]

Firstly, I think the answer has to be no for the Pats.

I think the offense has too many non-QB problems to become good next year even if all the high draft capital and free agency windfall are primarily applied to the offense. There are too many problems with both the OL and skill positions to make this an easy place for a QB to play.

And Mac has only been good when he was running a strong offense that minimized pressure on him and didn't force him off platform.

I believe that looking at his skills abstractly, Mac Jones can be quality starter.

Sure, his arm strength is below NFL average, but the top 2 QB's in the NFL this year by both DYAR and DVOA, Purdy and Tua, also have below average arms.

Mac also has better athleticism than most people give him credit for (not that he knows how to use it).

Accuracy is obviously a strength of his (NCAA record holder) and I believe he has shown at times that can be accurate on the run as well.

His pre-snap reads seem to be more than adequate (although post snap he often falls apart).

So why has he failed so miserably? I believe it's because he plays with a high base level of anxiety and can easily panic when anything goes wrong (as of course it often will for a below average offense in the NFL). And when he panics, he forgets all his fundamentals and makes both poor decisions and poor throws. That interception vs the Colts was one of the worst throws in Patriot history.

I also suspect that the painful injury Mac suffered in 2022 has added some physical cowardice to his heap of anxiety, and being labelled a dirty player likely has increased that by adding fear of retaliation. And as we saw with Tony Eason, an NFL QB can't be a coward and succeed.

While when Mac came out of college he has some superficial similarity to Brady, Mac has proven to be the anti-Brady: where Tom was as clutch as anyone in NFL history, Mac has been historically bad in high pressure situations or when the game is on the line.

I really doubt he can be coached up from that by anyone.

As we saw at Alabama, Mac benefits much more than most QB's when leading a superior offense. I think he would look much better at Miami or SF. And I think he will look impressive in anyone's training camp.

But the anxiety will always be lurking within him, and you can't trust him not to panic when pressured or when the game is on the line.

As a long shot, someone here once suggested that Zoloft or some other anti-anxiety/anti-depressant might actually help him calm down enough to play to his talent.

Zoloft and other SSRIs are apparently not banned in international competition by the WUDA ("World Anti-Doping Agency"). Does anyone know whether they are considered PED's by the NFL, and/or would trigger positively on NFL drug tests?

I'll just put it realistic.. 2021 Mac with McDaniels for the first part of the season was pretty good, and on trajectory..

March 2022.. and on..you fill in the rest...

 

[TommyD4207]

I'll just put it realistic.. 2021 Mac with McDaniels for the first part of the season was pretty good, and on trajectory..

March 2022.. and on..you fill in the rest...

And then he got all ass-hurt that he only threw 3 passes in a win, went to the media with it, and his numbers and performance fell off a cliff, except for one game against the 3-14 Urban Meyer Jaguars.

2021 New England Patriots Rosters, Stats, Schedule, Team Draftees, Injury Reports | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Check out the 2021 New England Patriots Roster, Stats, Schedule, Team Draftees, Injury Reports and more on Pro-Football-Reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

 

[Wozzy]

I'll just put it realistic.. 2021 Mac with McDaniels for the first part of the season was pretty good, and on trajectory..

March 2022.. and on..you fill in the rest...

2021 Mac after the bye week, after he trademarked “Mac10” and felt he had made it is who we saw for the rest of his time here.

His collapse started his rookie season after the bye week, after teams collected some film on him. He never improved and actually had a total collapse this season.

Nobody “ruined” Mac, he just wasn’t very good. To be fair the entire 2021 draft class of QB’s wasn’t as good as advertised. Trevor Lawrence was billed as a generational talent, he’s been merely meh… everyone else has sucked.

 

[condon84]

There is no OL in the history of the game that can protect this guy from his own shadow. Yes, that includes SF's OL.

 

[Triumph]

YES and that team is the New England Patriots.

New GM and new HC.

 

[sb1]

2021 Mac after the bye week, after he trademarked “Mac10” and felt he had made it is who we saw for the rest of his time here.

His collapse started his rookie season after the bye week, after teams collected some film on him. He never improved and actually had a total collapse this season.

Nobody “ruined” Mac, he just wasn’t very good. To be fair the entire 2021 draft class of QB’s wasn’t as good as advertised. Trevor Lawrence was billed as a generational talent, he’s been merely meh… everyone else has sucked.

Has any other highly touted QB class flamed out like that one did? I can't think of any.

 

[TommyD4207]

Has any other highly touted QB class flamed out like that one did? I can't think of any.

2019s is right up there. Although it wasn't as highly touted.

 

[Wozzy]

Has any other highly touted QB class flamed out like that one did? I can't think of any.

We’d be parsing degrees of “touted” but the degree to which that class failed was pretty spectacular.

Consider the three firsts the 49ers gave up for Trey Lance. Or that the first three picks were QB’s.

I can’t remember a worse QB haul then 2021, but the memory is fading.

 

[mgteich]

Mac will be in the league awhile, as a backup somewhere, joining the long list of patriot draftees that we have waived.

We get rid of them, and then wish we had them back.

 

[TommyD4207]

Mac will be in the league awhile, as a backup somewhere, joining the long list of patriot draftees that we have waived.

We get rid of them, and then wish we had them back.

I don't think it's a long list of people that will wish for Mac Jones back.
Thankfully we won't have to worry about that for another year, because he's your starter this year.

 

[mgteich]

There is no OL in the history of the game that can protect this guy from his own shadow. Yes, that includes SF's

I don't think it's a long list of people that will wish for Mac Jones back.
Thankfully we won't have to worry about that for another year, because he's your starter this year.

The list will be small; one is necessary.

 

[sb1]

The two worst passers in the NFL last year belong to your New England Patriots! A combined grade over 100. That's good right?

Also Bryce Young picked over Stroud after a trade up... woof

 

[Wozzy]

The two worst passers in the NFL last year belong to your New England Patriots! A combined grade over 100. That's good right?

To be fair Zappe’s QB Rating this season as a starter was 75.6.

His stats took a hit because he inherited a sht sandwich the four times Mac got benched at the end of games.

 

[sb1]

To be fair Zappe’s QB Rating this season as a starter was 75.6.

His stats took a hit because he inherited a sht sandwich the four times Mac got benched at the end of games.

Combine the Cork's short pass accuracy with Zappe at least not throwing bad ints and pick 6's at the worst times and maybe then we'll have something that can be salvaged.

 

[condon84]

The list will be small; one is necessary.

The GM last year wanted to get rid of Mac and one guy said "no, he's gonna be the starter" and that guy is still running the team.

 

[mgteich]

The GM last year wanted to get rid of Mac and one guy said "no, he's gonna be the starter" and that guy is still running the team.

We'll see. It is a very long time until Game 1 of the 2024-2025 season.

The first step is to see what QB's are signed in free agency.