3 Mac Jones replacements not named Jayden Daniels

1. Patriots can sign Kirk Cousins in free agency

Only a few starting-caliber QBs are set to enter free agency in 2024. Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield are the headliners, while Jacoby Brissett and 40-year-old Joe Flacco present potential emergency options for a team in New England's position. Not much is expected of the Patriots next season, but if Robert Kraft and the front office desire a swift return to respectability, the Patriots can hand a lucrative contract to Cousins.

The Minnesota Vikings want to bring Cousins back, but his Achilles injury raises serious doubts about the future. If the Vikings don't offer the long-term stability Cousins desires, he could change teams. The Patriots have the organizational prestige to lure the four-time Pro Bowl QB to Foxborough — get Tom Brady on that recruitment Zoom call! New England would need to subsequently upgrade the WR room, but the foundation of any solid offense is a passable quarterback. Cousins more than fits the bill.

There are unavoidable health concerns with Cousins, who will return from his first major knee injury and turn 36 during the season. Still, before the injury Cousins was once again on the Pro Bowl path. He has been one of the most productive QBs in the NFL over the past decade. In seven starts and change prior to the Achilles rupture, Cousins completed 69.5 percent of his passes for 2,331 yards, 18 touchdowns, and five interceptions.

He would offer the Patriots a level of stability Mac Jones never provided under center. There's a world in which the Patriots sign Cousins to a partially guaranteed three or four-year contract while keeping Jones around to serve as understudy. We still aren't that far removed from Jones' Pro Bowl rookie season and the reporting around Bill Belichick's deliberate teardown of the 25-year-old makes me think Jones deserves another bite at the apple.

Cousins is little more than a temporary stopgap until the Patriots can land a proper long-term solution, but he's a damn good leader to reset your culture around.