NFL rumors: Mac Jones was trying to escape New England long before Bill Belichick left Patriots

In 2024, the New England Patriots will surely look different than they have the last two decades or so. With Tom Brady having been gone for a few years now, the other throughline of the Patriots dynasty has now departed as well with Bill Belichick and the organization announcing their decision to mutually part ways on Thursday.

Jerod Mayo will be the team's new head coach, as first reported by Adam Schefter on Friday, a move that has been telegraphed the last year and a half, if not more.

With the change in coach -- and general manager, a role the Patriots will now look to hire for as well -- will come other changes to the team. Perhaps none more intriguing than quarterback.

Mac Jones future may be with another team, which could be what he wants anyway

After a rookie season that saw him play in a Pro Bowl game, Mac Jones's career has not lived up to the hype it had when the New England Patriots selected 15th overall in 2021. After 22 touchdowns in his rookie season, he's put forth a season with 14 and then 10 in 2022 and 2023. His completion percentage has dropped and his average net yards per attempt have dwindled down to an abysmal 4.5 in 2023.

A change in scenery could surely do him well, one would think, and that's something Jones reportedly wanted.

According to NewOrleans.football insider Nick Underhill, Jones wanted the job Derek Carr now occupies with the New Orleans Saints.

"Mac wanted to come [to New Orleans]. I heard that last offseason... It was something that like, Mac was looking at the situation and was like kinda pondering whether he wanted to be in or be out."

Underhill went on to explain that he wasn't giving a hard report, saying he heard a, "very strong rumor."

"Mac wanted to come here," Underhill asserted once more before changing topics.

Last offseason, the Saints were in search of a new franchise quarterback, and they went hard at Derek Carr, recruiting him while he was still officially on the Raiders, and then ultimately signing him after he became a free agent.

Carr had a so-so year but progressed toward the end. Would Jones have been a better option? Impossible to say.

As for Jones, his path to the Saints is unclear as well. Would he have tried to have forced a trade?

Jones has one year left on his deal but the Patriots cutting him wouldn't cost an obscene amount of dead money or cap space. There's a very real chance we see them moving on from Jones and in another direction at quarterback, giving Jones the choice of where he takes his NFL career next.

Right now, the Patriots own the third overall pick in the NFL Draft, and plenty have them mocked to select quarterback Jayden Daniels out of LSU.