Former Patriots Scout Doesn’t Blame Mac Jones For Epic Drop-Off

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones seemed in a good position to build off a promising rookie season, in which he played in the Pro Bowl.

But ever since that point, everything has crumbled for Jones.

Jones hit a low point this season when No. 15 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft was Jones was benched for the Patriots’ final six games. It’s unclear what the future holds for Jones and if he will even be on the Patriots next season.

But perhaps a better question is how did it get this bad for Jones after a solid start to his NFL career? Jim Nagy, who is the executive director of the Senior Bowl and was a Patriots scout from 2002-09, is as perplexed as anyone by Jones’ drop-off.

“From the outside looking in, I see a guy that played at a really high level as a rookie and a guy that’s like, wired the right way, total gym rat, like football junkie, and there’s not many of those anymore,” Nagy told WEEI’s “Gresh and Fauria” show on Wednesday, as transcribed by Mike Kadlick. “Ultra competitive.”

Nagy added: “How does that guy fall off? You know what I’m saying? Like to the point where now he probably has to go somewhere else and reset his career? You tell me what happened over the last two years. Like not many rookies come into the league and play the way Mac played. So, to me, what happened up there is not on Mac Jones.”

Jones beat out Cam Newton in training camp for the starting job as a rookie and proceeded to lead the Patriots to a 10-7 record while completing 67.6% of his passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Jones’ production sharply declined after that — he threw for 2,120 yards with 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2023 — but the 25-year-old surely wasn’t aided by New England’s unstable coaching staff.

Once Josh McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders following the 2021 season, Bill Belichick appointed Matt Patricia, who was a defensive coach for the vast majority of his NFL coaching career, and Joe Judge to run the offense. That experiment failed miserably with the offense and Jones regressing.

The Patriots then turned to Bill O’Brien — Jones’ third offensive coordinator in as many seasons — to stop the offensive slide, but O’Brien struggled to pick up the pieces of a broken offense that remained in shambles.

The Patriots are in search of a new offensive coordinator this offseason with O’Brien departing for Ohio State. Rumors are swirling that the Patriots could turn to McDaniels if he doesn’t follow Belichick to the Atlanta — if Belichick even lands that job.

And perhaps McDaniels being back in the fold would be the best thing for Jones to get his career back on track.