The New England Patriots are entering a new era with Jerod Mayo stepping into the head coaching role vacated with Bill Belichick leaving the team after more than two decades. While Mayo is a Belichick disciple and figures to keep some elements of the team-building structure and process the same, he will look to breathe a bit of new life into the team with some fresh ideas as they look to return to being a contender sooner than later.
The front office is also turning over, as Belichick held both titles of coach and GM, and while they haven’t officially filled that spot, Eliot Wolf is effectively leading the new regime. Wolf and Mayo’s first order of business this new league year is to take advantage of their ample cap room to upgrade the roster, and there’s nowhere that needs to be upgraded more than the quarterback position. The Patriots drafted Mac Jones in the first round in 2021 and after a solid rookie campaign, he fell off significantly, ultimately getting benched last year for Bailey Zappe (who didn’t fare all that much better).
With the Patriots picking third overall in April’s NFL Draft, the expectation long has been that they will select one of the top QBs from that spot to replace Jones. Making that even clearer was the news on Sunday that Mac Jones was going to be traded to Jacksonville when the league year officially begins this week, as the Pats will unload him for a sixth rounder.
Trade: Patriots are finalizing a deal to send QB Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars, sources tell ESPN. The trade cannot be processed until the new league year begins Wednesday and he passes a physical. The two sides were discussing a 6th-round pick, per sources.
Jones was… pic.twitter.com/dOceAGDDTm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 10, 2024
The Jaguars already have Trevor Lawrence under center, but with his injury history it makes sense why they’d invest in a solid backup. Now, whether you think Jones can be that is another question, but he has at least at one point shown some ability at the NFL level. For Jones it’s a needed reset, as he looked like a broken man towards the end in New England, routinely making some of the worst decisions possible to lead to turnovers. For the Patriots, they clear the way for a new quarterback to step in, but have to build an infrastructure and system around him to ensure they can thrive and avoid doing this song and dance all over again in a few years.
