NFL teams and their respective fan bases want to see one thing from potential franchise quarterbacks entering Year 2: growth.
Of course, growth is a pretty ambiguous term and there is no shortage of ways a signal-caller can improve as an NFL sophomore. In the case of Mac Jones, the Patriots' top pick in the 2021 draft, former New England executive Scott Pioli believes there's an item that should be very high on the 23-year-old's to-do list.
"To me, I think one of the next steps he needs to take is, who is his go-to guy going to be?" Pioli said on NFL network, as transcribed by WEEI. "He's got these relationships (with his receivers). ... He went out and saw players. He spent time with them. What he needs to do is cultivate those relationships, deepen them so to speak, and find out who his most dependable teammates are going to be.
"Tom Brady always had a go-to guy. Those guys were generally versatile, smart, and dependable. Mac needs to find out who those guys are or who that singular guy is in order to make things go to a next level for him at the quarterback position."
Seemingly the top contenders to be the "go-to guy" for Jones are Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and Hunter Henry. Meyers caught nearly a quarter of passes completed by the Patriots last season, but it should be noted the fourth-year pro is on an expiring contract. Brady's most noteworthy favorites, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, both played alongside the legendary QB for at least nine seasons in Foxboro.
So while the onus is on Jones to form rock-solid bonds with his pass-catchers, the Patriots also have some responsibility in keeping consistently productive players around the Alabama product.
