Why Mac Jones Reportedly Might Not Play In Patriots’ Preseason Finale

Mac Jones’ three series against Green Bay this past Saturday might be the only game action he sees this preseason.

The New England Patriots are giving “strong consideration” to sitting Jones in Friday night’s preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium due to protection issues up front, according to a report Thursday from ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

“After QB Mac Jones took some hard hits last week behind a patchwork offensive line, strong consideration has to be given to hold him out of the preseason finale,” Reiss tweeted. “Would normally not be a big question to play Jones in finale, but OL snapshot complicates it.”

The Packers sacked Jones twice — beating right tackle Sidy Sow and backup left tackle Andrew Stueber — and hit him on several other pass plays. The sack against Stueber, who subbed in for Trent Brown late in the first quarter, resulted in a fumble that Green Bay recovered on what proved to be Jones’ final snap of the game.

Jones and most of the Patriots’ other first-teamers did not play against Houston in Week 1 of the preseason.

Offensive line play has been a major issue for the Patriots since training camp began last month. They’ve been without starting guards Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu for most of the summer, and it remains a mystery who will start at right tackle once the regular season begins.

Strange, Onwenu, center/guard Kody Russey and tackles Conor McDermott and Calvin Anderson all are dealing with injuries, though Onwenu was able to return to practice in a limited capacity Wednesday.

The Patriots gave their first-team offense a heavy workload in their final preseason practice, with Jones taking 41 reps in 11-on-11 drills compared to 26 for backup Bailey Zappe and two for Malik Cunningham. That disparity raised the question of whether New England was planning to play Jones and the rest of its starters against Tennessee.

Last year, the Patriots did play their starters in their third and final preseason game, but many other NFL teams did not. That included New England’s opponent in that contest, the Las Vegas Raiders, who started Jarrett Stidham at quarterback.

Zappe, Trace McSorley and the multi-positional Cunningham round out the Patriots’ QB depth chart.