The Athletic’s Mike Sando on Monday published his annual “Quarterback Tiers” survey, polling 50 NFL coaches and evaluators to rank each of the league’s potential starting signal-callers.
Where did Mac Jones slot in? Smack dab in the middle.
Of the 35 QBs included in this year’s preseason poll, the New England Patriots passer ranked 18th, nestled between Tennessee’s Ryan Tannehill and new Carolina Panther Baker Mayfield. The evaluators Sando surveyed pegged Jones as a “Tier 3” quarterback, described thusly:
“A Tier 3 quarterback is a legitimate starter but needs a heavier running game and/or defensive component to win. A lower-volume dropback passing offense suits him best.”
Jones was easily the most impressive of last season’s rookie QBs — he piloted the Patriots to 10 wins and a playoff berth and made the Pro Bowl as an alternate — but did play in an offense that was heavily reliant on the ground game.
Here’s what coaches anonymously quoted in Sando’s piece had to say about Jones as he enters his second pro season:
Defensive coordinator: “Mac is going to make good decisions — he sees it. But I don’t think he can carry the game by himself. To me, he is going to be like a Kirk Cousins type where if their team around him is good then I think they will make the playoffs and maybe do some damage.”
Coach from rival AFC East team: “I think if Mac Jones wasn’t in New England and with that hype machine, maybe he would be viewed a little differently. If Mac Jones was in Jacksonville last year, how would he have been? How would people feel about him?”
Offensive coach: “I think Mac Jones is doing all the right things, but is New England helping him? We have been told his quarterback coach is Joe Judge, and I can’t name the last time he’s developed any quarterbacks. The head coach is more involved, but there are 57 other moving parts on any given day that Bill Belichick must attend to. Unless Bill gets 48 hours in a 24-hour day, then he is not getting enough time to develop a quarterback.”
Joining Jones in Tier 3 were (in order) Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo, Tannehill, Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, fellow 2021 draftee Trevor Lawrence and Jameis Winston.
The Patriots will hope Jones can ascend in Year 2 with an overhauled offensive coaching staff — Judge is replacing the departed Josh McDaniels as QBs coach, though it remains unclear whether he’ll take on McDaniels’ play-calling duties — and a supporting cast that now features veteran wideout DeVante Parker but otherwise is largely unchanged from 2021.
