There's always a big surprise that takes place when all 32 NFL teams are required to trim their rosters from 90 players to 53, and on Tuesday afternoon, the New England Patriots were the team that made the two most surprising moves in the league. The Pats ended up waiving both of their backup quarterbacks in Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham, leaving Mac Jones as the only remaining quarterback on the roster.

For what almost ended up being a yearlong stretch, Jones had been fighting to hold onto his job as the Patriots starting quarterback. After he picked up an ankle injury early last year, Zappe-mania took over New England, and even when he returned, it felt like Jones was one big mistake away from finding himself on the bench. All eyes were on this duo once training camp rolled around.

Jones had a better training camp than Zappe, but Bill Belichick decided to put an end to the question he largely willed into existence on his own last year. Jones is the Patriots starting quarterback, and after a tension-filled 2022 season, it's time for him to deliver the goods and prove that he can be this team's quarterback of the future.

Mac Jones must deliver the goods for the Patriots

Whether you'd like to admit it or not, Jones had every reason to struggle for the Patriots in 2022. Excuses are excuses, yes, but Jones was not put in position to succeed last year. Whether it was injuries, the coaching, the talent around him, or even Belichick's confusing decision to create a quarterback controversy out of thin air, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong last year did.

Jones certainly didn't handle things as well as he could have; his constant whining always seemed to get picked up by cameras, which obviously wasn't a great look, but the Patriots did not do their job of making his life easier in 2022. In 2023, it's clear that Belichick is going to give Jones every chance he needs to succeed.

The quarterback competition with Zappe is over. The fact that Belichick felt that the team would be better off opening up a roster spot by waiving Zappe and hoping no one claimed him so that they can sneak him back onto their practice squad should tell you everything you need to know about the situation. Belichick didn't leave anything up for debate here.

In a sense, this is the commitment that New England needed to make to Jones last year amid all the drama with Zappe. That doesn't mean they should have released the rookie quarterback then and there, but Belichick never definitively came out and said that Jones was his guy. Belichick's mismanagement of the 2021 first-rounder was staggering, but he may have managed to fix his mistakes in a not-so-subtle way here.

Ever since the end of 2022, Belichick has seemed intent on fixing his mistakes with Jones. He went out and hired Bill O'Brien to be the team's new offensive coordinator, and Adrian Klemm came in to help the offensive line with their protection of Jones. Jones has some new weapons on offense, like Mike Gesicki, but it will also help that one of his favorite targets in Kendrick Bourne is out of the doghouse as well.

It's not as if the Patriots have the most high-powered offense in the NFL, but they have a unit that looks somewhat similar to the team that Jones led to the playoffs during his rookie season in 2021. Regardless of how well he plays in 2023, the playoffs may not be in the cards for New England due to the strength of the AFC East, but that shouldn't be a factor in Jones' performance this season.

There's concern about having one quarterback on the depth chart here, but New England obviously isn't going to start the season without a backup, so all the commentary over that should be put to a halt. Zappe and Cunningham have potential, and they may not make it through waivers, but using a roster spot on them was not going to help Jones win football games, and Belichick is definitively saying here that is the most important thing for the 2023 Patriots.

The ball is now in Mac Jones' court. For all the drama and tension from last season, Belichick has conceded that Jones is the guy who will be New England's starting quarterback. He may not have nailed every move this offseason, but Belichick's surprising decision to release Zappe could end up being one of the most underrated moves in the NFL, especially if he finds his way on the team's practice squad. There's no doubt this is an initially confusing move, but a closer look shows that Belichick is all in on Jones, just as he should be.