One of the media members closest to New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick isn't fully buying the report that he has shopped quarterback Mac Jones in trade talks this offseason.

Mike Lombardi, who worked with Belichick on the Cleveland Browns in the early '90s and again with the New England Patriots in 2014 and 2015, debated just how true the report from Mike Florio earlier this week was.

“I know he’s not shopping Mac, but I’m not saying that Florio’s report is completely wrong,” Lombardi said on the GM Shuffle podcast. “Because I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick [Caserio] or some other team called him up because they’re reading all the [expletive] in the paper… But that’s not shopping.”

Lombardi isn't the only person to believe that the original report was either inaccurate or misleading as other reporters emerged during the week that quarterback-needy teams didn't hear from the Patriots about a possible Jones trade.

While Lombardi said that Florio's report wasn't incorrect, he explained how there might have been a misunderstanding at some point in the reporting process.

“Did the Texans call Bill and say, ‘Are you going to move Mac?’ and he said, ‘What do you offer?’ Because every player is available, right? But not every player is being shopped. So the idea that he’s shopping Mac is that’s against everything he would do,” Lombardi said. “First of all, he’s the most secretive person in the league. He’s not going to tell you anything he’s doing. Even some people in the organization don’t know.

“But if somebody comes to him and says, ‘I’ll give you a [first] for Mac.’ I mean, OK, does that mean he’s shopping him? No, that just means somebody asked the question.”

The report of Jones possibly being available for trade came after a rocky second season for him that has led to many questioning his future in New England. He threw for just 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions with an 84.7 passer rating in 14 games last season.

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While many excused Jones' performance because of the unusual coaching setup with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the offense, the way the quarterback handled the situation caused him to receive some scrutiny, too. Jones had multiple outbursts toward the coaching staff during a couple of games in 2022 and reportedly sought help from outside of the organization, which upset Belichick.

Belichick hasn't spoken highly of Jones when he has gotten the chance to so far this offseason as well. Speaking to reporters at the owners meeting last month, Belichick didn't outright say Jones would be the team's starting quarterback for the 2023 season.

But it appears that Mac Jones will at least be the starting quarterback entering training camp, at least for now.