Mac Jones Going Home As Days With New England Patriots Come To An End

After what was admittedly (by everyone) a terrible season in 2023, Mac Jones was done with the New England Patriots and his time as a starting NFL quarterback was over. The entire Earth knew that.

And now the NFL is about to confirm as much because Jones is being traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a source confirmed to OutKick.

The deal is agreed to by the teams but cannot become official until the start of the new league year on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Details of the compensation are not available but it is believed the Patriots are getting a last-day of the draft selection, possibly a sixth-rounder. The Jaguars have two sixth-rounder picks before this trade.

This is happening pending a physical by Jones. 

Teams Were Interested In Mac Jones

The Jaguars actually beat out a handful of teams that showed varying degrees of interest in Jones – none of them as a starter. 

Jones will become the backup to Jaguars starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The move is a homecoming for Jones, who was born in Jacksonville and played at Bolles high school there.

And this is all good news for everyone involved.

It's good for Jones because, simply, he needs a change of scenery. A former first-round pick of the Patriots in 2021, Jones had an outstanding rookie season, but the last two years have been a struggle and he had worn out his welcome with the team.

Last year was a disaster as Jones threw 10 TD passes but 12 interceptions and was either relieved in-game or lost his starting job multiple times during the season.

Mayo Wants A New Patriots QB

When the Patriots, who crawled through a 4-13 season, fired coach Bill Belichick at season's end – they called it a mutual parting of ways – it was obvious Jones was not only done as a starter but would not be with the franchise at all because new coach Jerod Mayo was not a big Jones fan.

The Patriots have the No. 3 overall pick in the April draft. And they will select a quarterback in that draft to be their future starter. The club also intends to sign a veteran to solidify the quarterback room, which will be mostly a new group of players with the possible exception of Bailey Zappe.

This is good news for the Jaguars because they believe Jones may be an upgrade over current backup C.J. Beathard.

And, interestingly, this could be good news for teams in the AFC East. That's because while the Patriots were under .500 the past two seasons and finished last in the division in 2023, Jones generally was functional against division rivals.

He threw 6 TDs and 2 interceptions while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes against AFC East teams last season. 

Too bad for him, he couldn't carry that over to, you know, the rest of the NFL.