Robert Kraft Still ‘Big Fan’ Of Mac Jones, Has ‘Hope’ After Coaching Change

Mac Jones still has a strong supporter in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Speaking with reporters Monday at the NFL annual meeting in Phoenix, Kraft expressed his confidence and Jones and said the team did not put the 24-year-old quarterback in the best position to succeed last season.

“I’m a big fan of Mac,” Kraft told reporters. “He came to us as a rookie, he quarterbacked his rookie season and did a very fine job, I thought. We made the playoffs. I think we experimented with some things last year that frankly didn’t work when it came to him, in my opinion, and I think we made changes (this offseason) that I think put him in a good position to excel.”

The “experiment” Kraft was referring to was head coach Bill Belichick’s decision to have Matt Patricia call offensive plays and Joe Judge coach quarterbacks despite neither having any prior experience in those roles. The result was a disastrous nosedive for New England’s offense and a lost sophomore season for Jones, who regressed in nearly every passing category and didn’t hide his frustration as the year progressed.

Within a week of their season-ending loss in Buffalo, which eliminated them from playoff contention for the second time in three years, the Patriots released a statement declaring their plan to replace Patricia and Judge with an official offensive coordinator. Two weeks later, they hired Bill O’Brien, whom Kraft believes will help rekindle the potential Jones showed as a rookie.

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Belichick, though, wouldn’t commit to Jones as the team’s starting QB, telling reporters earlier Monday that the Patriots will “play the best players.”

Backup Bailey Zappe performed well last season while Jones missed time with a high ankle sprain. Kraft also said rapper Meek Mill recently told him Lamar Jackson wants to play for New England, so the possibility of a blockbuster trade for the 2019 NFL MVP can’t be ruled out, either.

“Look, in the end, Bill is in charge of my football team,” Kraft said. “He makes the decisions of who should start and who should play, and he’s done a pretty darn good job of it for the last, when you think about it, 24 years. I had peach fuzz when that started.

“But I don’t know. To me, I see (Jones) as a very hard-working young man. He’s in the stadium almost every day now in the offseason. I think bringing in Bill O’Brien will work to his advantage, and I’m very positive and hopeful about this upcoming year.”

Kraft said he was “very disappointed” with how the Patriots’ 2022 season transpired, with the team extending its streak of consecutive seasons to four. But he believes the Patriots’ offseason changes have put them in a better position.

“I had the privilege of being a fan for decades before buying the team, and I think in the end, I’m still a fan,” Kraft, who said last offseason that the team’s lack of recent playoff success “bothered” him, told reporters. “My objective for our team is that we make the playoffs, because once you make the playoffs, anything can happen. But if you don’t, then your season ends in a way that doesn’t make me very happy. …

“So I thought changes had to be made, and I think we made some moves and changes that I think give me, personally, some hope for the upcoming season.”