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Mac Jones, it's your time to step up to the plate. Jones is one of many young players who found out recently that the NFL is a tough business that has little to no mercy on players who just can't cut it. Now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jones was the 15th overall pick of the New England Patriots in the 2021 NFL Draft.
He was supposed to be the quarterback to replace Tom Brady, which is no easy task. In fact, it's impossible. The issue for Jones is that he was barely even passable as a starting quarterback. In 42 games played in his first three seasons, he threw for 8,918 yards and 46 interceptions, which isn't terrible, but he also threw 36 interceptions. A 46-to-36 touchdown to interception ratio just isn't going to cut it in today's NFL, so the Patriots traded him to the Jaguars for a sixth-round pick this past spring as they looked to reset in the post-Bill Belichick-era.
From being the 15th overall pick and “the guy to replace the guy” in New England to Trevor Lawrence's backup in Jacksonville, it was a hard fall from grace for Jones, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist and National Champion at Alabama.
That's life in the NFL, though, and now Jones is in the midst of another tough reality.
Lawrence was taken No. 1 overall by the Jaguars in the 2021 NFL Draft and though he has shown much promise as a franchise quarterback, they unfortunately had to place him on the injured reserve recently due to a concussion he suffered in Week 13's loss to the Houston Texans. He's also going to be using this time to undergo surgery to repair the AC joint on his left shoulder, so his season is done.
The reality here is that Lawrence's tough injury luck is actually Jones' best chance to turn his career around. He's likely to be Jacksonville's starter against the Tennessee Titans in Week 14 and as long as he doesn't look terrible, there's no reason for head coach Doug Pederson to turn to C.J. Beathard or newly-signed practice squad quarterback John Wolford for the rest of the season.
At 2-10, don't expect the Jaguars to pull many strings to try to snag a few wins before the season is out. Pederson may think differently, but as it stands, they're again in the hunt for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. A Top Five pick in general could really help the Jaguars next season when Lawrence returns healthy, so there's, frankly, not much reason for the “powers that be” in Jacksonville to rock the boat with five games left. Again, Pederson may not like it, but he also may not be the head coach next season.
What that means for Jones is that he's likely going to get a five-game audition that could either sink him, or it could help him find a career resurgence.
Mac Jones has a career-defining opportunity with the Jaguars
His results so far in 2024 have been a bit discouraging. However, came come into the game when Lawrence was knocked out by Azeez Al-Shaair's brutal hit and he held his own. Mac Jones competed 20-of-32 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns with no picks. That gave him a 105.6 passer rating, which meant that he ultimately played one of the better games of his career. His average regular-season passer rating in New England was 84.8.
Ultimately, the Jaguars will want him to simply run the offense and “keep the train” on the tracks, per se.
“We just want Mac to be Mac. Don’t have to do anything special. Just make the plays that come to him, deliver the football where it needs to go, put us in the right run if we need to, change protection – all that stuff he’s capable of doing,” Pederson said on Wednesday, per AL.com. “I thought he did a nice job of that on Sunday. We had the two drives there for touchdowns and the 2-point conversion. He sees the field extremely well, great communication on the sideline and all things that have shown us that he’s very capable of to lead this team.”
Heck, the Minnesota Vikings are 10-2 and Sam Darnold has thrown for 2,952 yards and 23 touchdowns (10 interceptions) as their starting quarterback. He was the backup plan when J.J. McCarthy got injured, but he's on the verge of leading Minnesota to the playoffs.
