Mac Jones has looked like an entirely different player in his latest chance at starting in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers in relief of injured starter Brock Purdy. According to Jones’ former collegiate coach, former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban, Jones’ success in San Francisco shows that his tenure with the New England Patriots may simply have been a product of a bad situation.
Jones did have some bright spots in New England, famously leading the team to the postseason in his first year with the organization in 2021. But ultimately, his following two years with the team were marred with inconsistency, which resulted in the organization moving on from him after the 2023 season.
Now, Jones seems to be following the same career arch as the likes of Sam Darnold and Geno Smith, finding success away from the team that originally drafted them. Recently, Nick Saban addressed the elephant in the room about Jones’ tenure in New England, explaining that the organization did not put Jones in a position to succeed.
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“I’m so happy for Mac,” Saban recently said on “The Pat McAfee Show.“ “I think Mac was one of those guys who was in bad situations in New England relative to coaching and all that type of stuff, and who was the offensive coordinator, and how did he get developed when he came into the league. He hasn’t been in great circumstances. I think, right now, he is in a really good circumstance with Shanahan and their offense.”
It’s hard to argue with Saban’s comments here. While Jones did have the luxury of playing under Bill Belichick in New England, his offensive coordinator situation throughout his time with the Patriots was far from ideal.
In his rookie season, which was by far the most productive season of his career aside from his career resurgence this year, Jones was able to lean on Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator.
But after McDaniels left to coach the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, the Patriots opted not to have a designated offensive coordinator, with Belichick, former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and Joe Judge all playing a hand in play-calling. Then, a season later, Bill O’Brien took over the offensive coordinator responsibilities, which ended up being a complete disaster as well.
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The constant revolving door of offensive minds in New England throughout Jones’ tenure with the team surely couldn’t have been good for his development.
And now, we may very well be seeing what Jones is able to do as a quarterback with an established play-caller in head coach Kyle Shanahan with a track record of success. So it will sure be interesting to see how many more opportunities Jones gets as the starter in San Francisco, and whether he continues to play at the high level he currently is operating at.
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