Mac Jones Rumors: Details On QB’s Role For Patriots-Chargers

Mac Jones won’t start for the Patriots on Sunday, but he reportedly still will be in uniform.

Sophomore Bailey Zappe will get the start at Gillette Stadium for New England’s home matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, per multiple reports. The Patriots also used a practice squad elevation on rookie receiver/quarterback Malik Cunningham, who could see a package of plays.

With Zappe and Cunningham active on gameday, and Jones seeing scout-team practice work during the week, many wondered whether the third-year quarterback would be a healthy scratch. But that won’t be the case, according to a Sunday morning report from Mike Reiss of ESPN.

“Barring an unexpected change, the expectation is that Jones will still be part of the game-day roster as the team wasn’t planning to enter the game with just Zappe and Cunningham,” Reiss wrote.

So, Jones apparently will serve in a traditional backup role, potentially as the top backup behind Zappe.

What Jones won’t be is the emergency third QB, who only can play if the starter and backup suffer injuries. To take advantage of that loophole, the Patriots would’ve needed to add Cunningham to the 53-man roster rather than simply making him a practice squad elevation. But with only two QBs on the active roster, New England can’t make anyone the emergency third quarterback.

Nevertheless, it’ll be interesting to see what the rest of the Patriots’ 48-man gameday roster looks like with Jones, Cunningham and Zappe all active. We’ll find out roughly 90 minutes for Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET kickoff.