Mac Jones and the New England Patriots both came to the same conclusion on whether his time with the team should've continued before he was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Player and team agreed that it was time to end their partnership this offseason, the quarterback told reporters Thursday shortly after the trade was finalized.
“I have all the respect in the world for those guys up there. They’re my first team, drafted me in the first round – can’t thank them enough,” Jones said. “We kind of just decided the mutual parting of ways was the best decision for both of us. And for me, it was just about moving on and getting back home and I can’t be more excited. For them, it’s about moving forward and turning the page. So really that’s kind of what we decided, and I think it’s a great decision.”
Mac Jones on being traded from the #Patriots to the Jaguars:
“We kind of just decided the mutual parting of ways was the best decision for both of us, and for me it was just about moving on and getting back home and I can't be more excited.
And for them, it's about moving… pic.twitter.com/F61YjdakwH
— Mike Kadlick (@mikekadlick) March 14, 2024
As Jones said, it was pretty evident that turning the page was likely the best thing for both parties. The Patriots went 4-13 this past season, with Jones' disappointing play being a major reason why before Bailey Zappe replaced him for good in Week 13.
Jones continued to regress from his solid rookie season and never seemed to recover from Bill Belichick's decision to replace Josh McDaniels with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge at offensive coordinator. After an underwhelming 2022 season, Jones threw for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as New England's offensive situation crumbled further, the team losing top pass-catching target Jakobi Meyers ahead of 2023.
How Mac Jones views his time with the Patriots
Despite a rough last two seasons in New England, Jones didn't seem to have any ill will toward the Patriots when he spoke with reporters on Thursday.
“A lot of great learning experiences,” Jones said of his three seasons with the Patriots. “Learned from a great coach, obviously, one of the greatest of all time and fortunate to kind of work with some great head coaches and learned a lot, played a lot of games, started a lot of games and obviously things went the way they did and my goal was to kind of get the train back on the tracks. So, I think I can do that here.”
Jones will be a backup quarterback now with the Jaguars, working behind Trevor Lawrence. Of course, if anything unforeseen happens to the Jacksonville's franchise quarterback, Jones could get another crack at starting.
But Jones is focused on taking the lessons he learned from this past season and hoping that he's better because of it.
“Every experience is a good experience if you learn from it,” Jones said. “So, you know the games that we lost, the things that happened, obviously you don’t ever want to lose. You want to win every game you play in, but I understand it’s sometimes really hard to do in the NFL and I don’t have regrets. I feel like I put everything out there, gave a lot to that organization and they gave a lot to me.
“So, I’m going to do the same thing here in a good way and just be myself, be Mac, and learn from Trevor and C.J. [Beathard] and the coaches here that have a lot of offensive background. And that’ll be important for me and that’s a big reason why I felt like this is a good fit.”
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