The Mac Jones trade rumors just won't go away.
Before the start of the 2023 NFL Draft on Thursday, NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran confidently reported that the Patriots wouldn't trade Mac Jones during the draft and that New England wouldn't use a first-round pick on a new signal-caller. Both of those reports proved accurate. Curran also reported that neither Robert Kraft nor Bill Belichick wants to trade Jones, and Belichick on Friday night offered his strongest -- although not completely air-tight -- endorsement of the 24-year-old quarterback in a while. However, the Patriots head coach did deflect a direct question about recent trade rumors involving Jones.
That's all well and good, but there might still be something fishy going on. During an NBC Sports Boston appearance following Day 1 of the draft, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer indicated that some NFL teams believe Jones still could be on the trade block.
"I got a call from a general manager today asking me what was going on with Mac Jones -- from another team," Breer said during Thursday's "Boston Sports Tonight" episode. "So, it's floating around the league right now that, like, something weird is happening here, and that if you need a quarterback, call. And this was a team that could've taken a quarterback (in Round 1) but didn't.
"And there are a lot of teams that are sort of in that wheelhouse. ... There were teams that were looking at quarterbacks (in the draft) that were like, 'Alright, if this guy's debatable, that guy's debatable, maybe we look at some sort of Plan B on the veteran market after the draft'. And Mac was actually a guy that I got a call on."
Ultimately, the most likely scenario is that Jones enters training camp as New England's top quarterback and keeps the job to start the regular season. He remains the most talented signal-caller on the Patriots roster.
But Belichick -- and, now, offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien -- have made it clear that QB competition between Jones and Bailey Zappe this summer is at least possible. Their comments, along with consistent trade rumors involving Jones, help ensure that this storyline isn't going anywhere.
