Mac Jones’ Eye-Popping Fantasy Stats Reveal Patriots QB’s Struggles

Over the last two weeks, the Patriots quarterback has contributed negative fantasy points

by

Oct 11, 2023

Mac Jones is no fantasy football darling by any means, but the recent stretch by the Patriots starting quarterback has been so hysterically bad, managers probably had to do a double-take upon seeing the numbers.

We certainly did.

Put it this way: Fantasy football managers would have been better off having Tom Brady or Cam Newton in their starting lineup in Week 5. At least Brady and Newton, like so many others not in the league, scored zero points.

The third-year Patriots quarterback, again, who started the game, scored in the negatives. Jones concluded Week 5 with -1.6 fantasy points in full-point leagues, per Sportradar.

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That must be the first time it’s ever happened to a quarterback, right? Well, no. It has happened before and has even happened multiple times this season, as tracked by Sportradar. But those situations were far different than Jones’ starting nod against the New Orleans Saints.

Others who have finished in the negatives tend to be second-string quarterbacks who come in for a final possession or late kneel down — for example, when Saints second-stringer Jameis Winston threw an interception on New Orleans’ final offensive play in Week 4, or when Sam Darnold took a knee on the final possession of a San Francisco 49ers’ blowout win. Not all negative-point-scoring situations are the same.

And it’s not just that one-game sample size either.

Jones actually is in the negatives for fantasy points scored over the last two weeks. He scored -0.90 points in full-point fantasy leagues during Weeks 4 and 5, per Sportradar. For those who don’t excel at math, that means Jones scored less than one point in Week 4 — 0.70, to be exact — in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

He has completed 55.81% of his passes (24-for-43) with four interceptions and two fumbles lost. Those turnovers tell the story from a fantasy standpoint.

Jones is QB45 out of 46 signal-callers during that two-week span, per Sportradar. He is in front of only Winston, who threw one pass and took three kneel downs during that stretch.

It’s incredible, honestly.

Jones currently is rostered in 10% of Yahoo leagues and has been dropped by many. So, again, it’s not like the struggling Patriots signal-caller is beloved among managers or was ever viewed as a must-start.

But when you put it into fantasy football terms, it really highlights just how bad Jones has been — both for fantasy manager teams who play against their friends and for Bill Belichick’s Patriots.

Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images

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