Patriots Mailbag: One Must-Make Move; Can Mac Jones Be Fixed?

Mailbag time. Let’s dive into another batch of your New England Patriots questions.

@SteveManoz
Do you think Mac Jones was ever good, or has he always been just OK? 2021 a lot of the W’s came again bad teams with backup QB 2022 was supposed to be the Patricia/Judge are awful season. But is it looking different in retrospect?
Here’s where I am on Jones: I think he’s a quarterback you can win with if you surround him with the right pieces. The problem is the Patriots have not done so in either of the last two seasons, with the Matt Patricia/Joe Judge experiment torpedoing their 2022 campaign and injuries/roster-building blunders leaving them lean on receiver and O-line talent this year.

We can confidently say that Jones is not good enough to elevate a less-than-stellar supporting cast. He’s never going to be that guy. And at this point, with all the crap he’s gone through in Years 2 and 3 — which he hasn’t handled as well as he should have at times — his game and on-field psyche might be irreparably broken.

Watch his film from 2021. He looked like a completely different QB, playing with poise and confidence that’s been nearly nonexistent since.

Way too much Mac Jones slander on this app. Here's his dominant rookie year with Josh McDaniels as OC pic.twitter.com/M6n3RUv8P6

— Joey Rizzi (@Joeyrizzi7) October 18, 2023

(Calling his rookie year “dominant” is a stretch, but you get the idea.)

Jones has not been good this season. He ranks near the bottom of the NFL in pretty much every passing metric, including passer rating (30th), QBR (30th), expected points added per play (31st), completion percentage over expectation (29th). He’s 20th in completion percentage, 29th in yards per attempt and 28th in interception rate.

A lot of that can be blamed on poor blocking in front of him and a lack of separation downfield, but not all of it. Jones deserves blame, as well, especially for how careless he’s been with the football (seven interceptions, two lost fumbles).

But put him in, say, the San Francisco 49ers’ offense? Maybe I’m naive, but I still think he could have success.

@FrieswickLiam
I asked one already but throwing out a fun one: what QB WR combo should the pats draft this year? I liked how the Bengals paired Borrow with Chase, any pairings the pats could make? Penix Jr. And Odunze would require at least one trade up, any other ideas?
I think you’re coming at this the wrong way. There are a few teams that recently found great success pairing QBs with their college wideouts (Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, as you mentioned, and also Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle) but those players were selected in different drafts.

I think the Patriots’ priority should be acquiring a top-flight receiver, regardless of where he went to school. It’s become abundantly clear in recent years that you essentially need one to compete at the highest level in the NFL.

Every team that reached the conference championship round in the last four seasons boasted a game-changing wideout, tight end or both:

2022
Kansas City: Travis Kelce
Philadelphia: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith
Cincinnati: Chase, Tee Higgins
San Francisco: Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk

2021
LA Rams: Cooper Kupp
Cincinnati: Chase, Higgins
Kansas City: Tyreek Hill, Kelce
San Francisco: Samuel, Kittle

2020
Tampa Bay: Mike Evans
Kansas City: Hill, Kelce
Green Bay: Davante Adams
Buffalo: Stefon Diggs

2019
Kansas City: Hill, Kelce
San Francisco: Samuel, Kittle
Green Bay: Adams
Tennessee: Brown

We’ve also seen how much having an elite wideout has helped nearly every young star quarterback who’s risen to prominence in recent years, from Josh Allen (Diggs) to Justin Herbert (Keenan Allen) to Jalen Hurts (Brown) to Burrow (Chase) to Tagovailoa (Hill/Waddle) to Patrick Mahomes (Hill/Kelce).

The Patriots haven’t had a pass-catcher even approaching that level since Rob Gronkowski left and Julian Edelman’s knees fell apart. They sorely need one next season to help either Jones or whoever takes over for him, if New England chooses to go in a different direction at the QB position.

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@riraho
How long til McDermott gets promoted to the main roster?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Conor McDermott, who re-signed to the practice squad this week, started Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills at right tackle. He was solid there down the stretch last season, and he can’t be a worse option than Vederian Lowe, who’s been a turnstile in his four starts at right tackle.

Teams are allowed to temporarily elevate practice squad players on gameday, so the Patriots wouldn’t necessarily need to sign McDermott to the 53-man roster in order to use him against the Bills.

@awmrpb
2 week forward looking question: When’s the last time patriots were 1-7???
You have to go back a full three decades for that: 1993, Bill Parcells’ first season with the team and Drew Bledsoe’s rookie year. The ’93 Patriots started off 1-11 before winning their final four games.

Robert Kraft bought the team one year later, so he’s never overseen a 1-7 start in his ownership tenure. How he responds to one now will be the No. 1 Patriots storyline if these losses continue.

The 1-5 Patriots will be heavy underdogs in each of the next two games, at home against Buffalo this Sunday and at Miami next week. They’ve beaten the Bills just once in the post-Tom Brady era (the 2021 three-pass wind game) and always have struggled in Miami, notching just one road win over the Dolphins since 2019.

@nicks__tricks
Zack, who is your favorite current player on the roster?
There are a couple different ways to take that one, but I’ll say my favorite player to cover on this year’s team is Jabrill Peppers.

The veteran safety always is generous with his time and willing to speak his mind — he recently shared strong takes on Aaron Rodgers’ injury, the turf-versus-grass debate, Deion Sanders and his disdain for today’s “softer” NFL — and it’s just fun to watch a guy who hits like this:

The @JabrillPeppers force, the Tavai INT.

📺: #NEvsLV on CBS pic.twitter.com/sX1leAzkSm

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 15, 2023

Patriots reporters vote each season on the Ron Hobson Media Good Guy Award, and I’d peg Peppers as the early favorite for that honor. The last three recipients — all deserving — were Jakobi Meyers, Matthew Judon and Cam Newton.