While there had been speculation that a move involving Mac Jones could be among one of the surprises of night one of the NFL Draft, it appears that #10 will get a shot at redemption after all in the coming months.
With rumors having swirled in recent weeks that Jones was being shopped and that the club could even potentially move him in this draft, the former Alabama standout survived night one, which essentially seems to secure his future here moving forward.
The first sign came early on when the Houston Texans went ahead and took quarterback C.J. Stroud with the number two overall selection, which took Nick Caserio’s team out of the mix of potentially making Bill Belichick an offer to pry Jones out of New England.
Some had expected Houston to grab a defensive player with that selection, which could have opened up the possibility of the Texans going in another direction to get a quarterback.
Instead, they took Stroud and essentially gave themselves a talented player to start a new chapter after the club finally rid themselves of Deshaun Watson prior to last season.
But the Texans did ultimately grab a defensive guy earlier in the draft, providing everyone the first surprise of the evening. After taking Stroud, they immediately made a deal with the Arizona Cardinals to move up to #3, taking Alabama defensive end Will Anderson Jr. That allowed them to take two of the best players at their respective positions.
As for New England, that first move by the Texans was the one that seemingly closed the door on the speculation, and it followed a report before the draft by Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, who said, “Mac Jones will not be traded tonight.”
That got Caserio’s club off to a big start heading into night two, but for now, it appears there at least won’t be a team with a Patriots connection altering the future of their former football team.
The Patriots did trade out of 14 despite Kentucky quarterback Will Levis still being available. They instead struck a deal with Pittsburgh to swap for the #17th overall pick while picking up a fourth-round selection.
With that selection, they added a terrific player to their defense by eventually selecting Oregon standout and cornerback, Christian Gonzalez.
For now, how things unfold from here remains to be seen, but it looks like we can at least close the door on any further speculation about Jones’s time in New England for 2023.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
