Former Patriots RB exonerates Mac Jones for busting as first-round pick

The New England Patriots tried their best to find their Tom Brady replacement. It looked as though they had their long-term quarterback in Mac Jones after a promising rookie year. But Jones' second and third seasons were disasters, highlighted by multiple benchings. This offseason, Jones was dealt to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2024 sixth-round pick to back up fellow draft classmate Trevor Lawrence.

Jones felt like the perfect fit for New England, but it just didn't work out. A former teammate of Jones believes there's a reason for that -- coaching.

While speaking with "The Athletic Football Show," former Patriots running back Damien Harris says Jones' downfall was not his fault. Rather, it was the coaching.

“What happened in New England to Mac Jones was because of the fact you took away an offensive coordinator who coached him to be a Pro Bowler and almost coached us to winning our division with a rookie quarterback in his first year," said Harris, h/t Boston.com.

“And then you take — whenever Josh McDaniels left — Matt Patricia, who has coached defenses his entire life, and Joe Judge, who has been a special teams coach, coached receivers at some point. And then you just throw them in there and be like, ‘Hey, coach this kid up. He’s a first round pick, but as long as you teach him what I say, everything will be fine,’ and s*** wasn’t fine.”

Damien Harris believes Patriots coaching failed Mac Jones

As Harris brings up, Jones succeeded with Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator. That resulted in the rookie being named to the Pro Bowl and finishing second in NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting behind Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase. But after the season, McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

With coaching being critical to Jones' development, head coach Bill Belichick decided to have Matt Patricia and Joe Judge run the offense. As Harris mentions in his quote above, Patricia was notably a defensive coach in the NFL, while Judge worked primarily on special teams. The duo didn't help Jones in his sophomore season.

In 14 starts in the 2022 season, Jones threw for 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while completing 65.2 percent of his passes.

Last season, the Patriots brought in Bill O'Brien to take over as offensive coordinator. O'Brien, ironically, arrived from Alabama as their offensive coordinator for two seasons, immediately after Jones declared for the NFL Draft. While the move may have been good on paper, the results weren't there. Jones struggled and was benched multiple times in favor of backup Bailey Zappe. New England's offense, as a whole, was far from great, but Jones didn't show the improvement they had expected as a first-round pick.

In 11 starts, Jones threw for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while completing 64.9 percent of his passes.

After the season, the Patriots moved on from Belichick and replaced him with Jerod Mayo. Belichick didn't end up with a head coaching job, despite interest from the Atlanta Falcons.

With the third-overall pick at their disposal, the Patriots had a chance to take a top quarterback prospect in this year's NFL Draft. They traded Jones to Jacksonville and ultimately selected Drake Maye out of North Carolina.

Harris went on to say that Jones' stint in New England arrived and departed mostly because of Belichick "being stuck in his ways."

"It's like the breath of Mac Jones in New England, it came and went and it shouldn't have [gone] the way that it went," Harris said, h/t CBS Sports. "And the only reason that it did is because Bill Belichick, being stuck in his ways, was very much so like, 'As long as I am here, as long as I am -- along with Robert Kraft -- the top dog at this organization, no matter who, no matter where, what position, where they coach, whatever, we will have success.'"

We'll never know how Jones' tenure would have gone with the proper coaching or if McDaniels never left after the 2021 season. But now, Jones is in Jacksonville to serve as a backup to Lawrence. If last season showed anything, it's having a quality backup quarterback can help lead a team into the playoffs if the starter were to be sidelined. We'll see if Jones will thrive in Doug Pederson's offense and eventually get a chance to start elsewhere.