COLUMN: Mac Jones Continues To Show Why Drafting Him Was A No-Brainer For The Pats

By Sravan Gannavarapu, the BU News Service

September 25, 2021

BOSTON – Two games into his tenure with the New England Patriots, quarterback Mac Jones has shown poise and promise as he helped lead the franchise to a 1-1 start.

While a 0.500 record is nothing to write home about, for a tiny sample size, there’s plenty to be optimistic about, all thanks to a choice made in April.

The 2021 NFL draft was littered with quarterbacks, and Jones was among several talented prospects expected to go by the end of the first round. Among the teams interested in taking a quarterback were the Patriots, who were coming off a 7-9 season; their first without Tom Brady at the helm.

Picking 15th overall, it seemed unlikely that the Patriots would be in a position to select a franchise quarterback, but head coach Bill Belichick, not one to make an aggressive move up the board, decided to stay patient.

As it played out, the Jacksonville Jaguars, picking first overall, selected Clemson’s QB Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback with an impeccable college resume, including a national championship as a freshman. And sure enough, the rival New York Jets, picking second, went with BYU’s Zach Wilson, who threw four interceptions against the Patriots last Sunday.

But then things started to heat up further. Picking third was San Francisco, who mortgaged their future to move up the draft board. It seemed that Jones, coming off a national championship with the Alabama Crimson Tide, would be a natural fit in the 49ers’ offense, headed by Kyle Shanahan.

Instead, the 49ers threw a curveball, going for North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, who had a phenomenal junior season, winning a national championship without throwing a single interception. He only played one game in his last season before opting out due to COVID-19.

With Lance gone, the final hurdle for Jones and the Patriots began. Between the 49ers’ pick and them were a slew of teams in a perfect position to draft a quarterback, including the Broncos, Lions, and Giants. Yet, each went in a different direction.

The biggest risk came with pick #11. Initially held by the Giants, the selection went to Chicago, after the Bears struck a deal to move up the board. Though it was known that the Bears intended to draft a quarterback, the question was whether Chicago would pursue Jones or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.

Fields ended up being their man. His physical traits and exciting playmaking abilities were too much to pass up.

A few picks later, New England went on the clock and selected the Alabama quarterback, who walked onto the stage with a strut of confidence that briefly became a meme on social media.

It was also no surprise that Belichick would choose Jones to begin with. In an HBO Special featuring both Belichick and Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Saban spoke of how Belichick always talked to him before picking one of his players.

For the millennials out there, Belichick has a well-documented relationship with Saban, having worked with him while coaching the Cleveland Browns in the 1990s.

Flash forward 5 months and just two games into his rookie season, the Alabama quarterback has shown that while still a rookie and a work in progress, his style of play perfectly complements how Belichick views his offense being run. That leaves one question, how did the league allow Mac Jones to fall to the Patriots?

Maybe it was due to how much talent he had at his disposal in Alabama, highlighted by four offensive teammates taken in the first round and five in the first two? Or maybe there was an infatuation with some of the other quarterbacks, and Jones was left out of the conversation?

There may never be a clear answer, just like the press conferences that Belichick tends to deliver. Nevertheless, the Patriots landed a player whom they view as a franchise quarterback and can restore the dominant tradition that the franchise has displayed throughout the past two decades.

Once again, the NFL’s loss is the Patriots’ gain.

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