It’s way too soon to be saying the grass is greener on the other side from a football perspective, but from strictly a mental perspective, former New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is better off with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He’s back at home without the weight of the world of a starting quarterback on his shoulders. This is a situation where he can finally take a step back, catch his breath and let someone else take the wheel for once.
“The whole change of scenery definitely helped,” Jones told The Athletic’s Jeff Howe in an interview. “I’m just having fun playing football. I’m at my best when I’m keeping it loose, letting it rip and having that gunslinger mindset that I maybe had lost a little bit of. But I got it back here, and you’ve just got to be consistent with it. It’s good days, bad days and everything in between.”
That gunslinger mindset helped Jones earn a Pro Bowl nod in his first NFL season. It also got the Patriots back to the playoffs.
Unfortunately, that success in New England was short-lived.
There’s enough blame to go around for why Jones went from the future franchise face of an organization to the backup on another team in merely three years.
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick wrote the book on all of the wrong ways to develop a young quarterback with the constant turnover at offensive coordinator, the barren talent at the skilled positions and a porous offensive line.
It was a recipe for disaster from the start, and Jones crumbled instantly.
He started to second-guess himself on the field, and he went from being a promising young quarterback to a turnover machine who was benched multiple times for Bailey Zappe.
Then he had to face the endless waves of backlash for his poor performances from outsiders. That comes with the territory of being a franchise quarterback, and Jones clearly wasn’t ready for it.
Now, he’s in a situation where he isn’t expected to be the guy. He can let loose and be himself for a bit, while working on his game behind the scenes. Perhaps he improves well enough to take on another starting job one day, or maybe this is the role he sees himself in now.
“I just want to go out there and put on a show and bring other people with me,” said Jones. “Bring maybe a rookie undrafted kid who has a chance to make the team: ‘Hey, how can you get better? How can I help you?’ Whatever I can do to bring those guys (along). I think when you elevate the young guys, it pushes everybody.”