New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones found himself in an avalanche of rumors and speculation last week when it was reported that Bill Belichick tried shopping the signal-caller this offseason.
While there were further reports pouring a whole glass of cold water on that notion, there's obvious friction between Jones and Belichick.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer gave further context Monday into the reported icy relationship between the two. A lot of it seems to stem from the way Jones handled the unconventional move last season by Belichick, who put Matt Patricia and Joe Judge in charge of the offense, which turned into an abject failure.
"Regardless of how you'd split that blame up, Jones lost support in the building with the way he managed the challenges of the season," Breer wrote.
But Breer revealed that Jones might be currently working at trying to restore some faith amongst the coaching staff that he's still the best option to be the starting quarterback of the Patriots for this upcoming season. There's been chatter of Bailey Zappe receiving support from inside New England's locker room last season and Belichick hasn't fully come out this offseason and stated that Jones has the starting job.
Jones isn't sulking by taking his offseason work elsewhere, as according to Breer, he's been in Foxboro trying to get a jumpstart on his third year in the NFL while working with New England's new-look offensive staff. The Patriots have given offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien the reins of the offense as O'Brien tries to clean up the sizable mess made by Patricia and Judge.
"Jones has been at the facility to lift, throw and relationship-build with his new offensive coaches (Zappe has been, too), as those coaches basically rebuild the playbook," Breer wrote.
It will be fascinating to see how things will play out between Jones and Belichick with O'Brien in the mix and if the former Alabama assistant can help Jones get his career back on track.
