As Mac Jones prepares for about one half of action against the Buccaneers on Saturday, the Jaguars’ quarterback has reflected on inspiration he’s drawn from a player who will be on Tampa Bay’s sideline.
While their career trajectories aren’t carbon copies of one another, Jones sees a bit of his story in that of Buccaneers starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, Cleveland’s 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick who was traded away before the expiration of his rookie contract.
“Baker’s journey is something that’s inspiring for me and a lot of quarterbacks,” Jones said Thursday.
“It’s not going to be perfect from the start to the finish. You might go up and down and then he kind of found his little home. Hopefully, that can be [an] inspiration for me and many others.”
Jones experienced a similar situation this offseason when New England, which took him at No. 15 overall in 2021, traded him to Jacksonville, his hometown team, for a sixth-round pick after benching him mid-game on four occasions last season.
The Patriots took quarterback prospect Joe Milton III with the selection they received for Jones this spring, after snagging quarterback Drake Maye No. 3 overall in the first round.
Mayfield was dealt to Carolina for a fifth-round pick in 2022 despite Cleveland having picked up his fifth-year option, after the Browns traded for Deshaun Watson and signed him to an unprecedented, fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
Watson has appeared in only 12 games in two seasons with the Browns and his deal is currently viewed as one of the most egregious in NFL history. Mayfield, meanwhile, has revitalized his career, not with the Panthers but with their NFC South rival Buccaneers.
Mayfield joined Tampa Bay after splitting the 2022 season between Carolina, which waived him after six starts, and Los Angeles, with whom he won two games starting in relief of the injured Matthew Stafford.
He took that job from one of his current backups, John Wolford.
Mayfield’s play with the Rams led him to the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback role, which was vacated by their Super Bowl LV-winning passer Tom Brady last offseason, on a one-year deal. Following his 4,044-yard, 28-touchdown 2023 campaign, Tampa Bay inked Mayfield a three-year, $100 million extension in March.
Jones caught up with Mayfield the season before the latter’s resurgence with the Buccaneers.
The former — then an heir to Brady in the town where he won his first six Super Bowls — faced struggles of his own around the time of their conversation. Jones began his 2022 campaign with five interceptions, two losses and an ankle sprain in three games following a rookie season that ended in a playoff appearance.
“I talked to [Mayfield] a little bit … two years ago when he was on the Panthers,” Jones recalled.
“I just enjoy watching quarterbacks’ journeys and everyone’s is different. I can definitely find motivation from that one. And maybe I’ll pick his brain a little bit more. But he’s a great quarterback he’s fighting back and has done a good job of that. And I think a lot of people can take note.”
Mayfield won’t play Saturday night when his Buccaneers meet the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium, with most if not all starters from both teams expected to sit after a pair of joint practices in Jacksonville this week.
But Jones will, amid his preseason position battle with three-year Jacksonville C.J. Beathard in their fight to become the Jaguars’ No. 2 signal-caller behind starter Trevor Lawrence.
The competition has been anything but contentious, though, per Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson. Jones and Beathard have echoed Pederson’s sentiment.
“It’s been good competition. C.J. has been a really positive influence on Mac, just learning the system too. That’s something you don’t see. When somebody’s challenging for your spot, and you see that other player coach him up a little bit, that’s encouraging and that’s positive. But both guys have done a great job.”
Whether one believes Mayfield was a “bust” in Cleveland or that the Browns did him wrong — he did lead the Browns to their first playoff appearance in nearly two decades in 2020 — he overcame all obstacles from that position: being traded, getting cut, becoming a third-string player and successfully supplanting the greatest passer ever in Tampa Bay on a prove-it pact.
As Jones turns the page, beginning a new chapter of his NFL career in Jacksonville with one season remaining on his rookie contract, he is channeling an energy with which Mayfield has long been associated: self-assured no matter the circumstances he faces.
“I’ve competed my whole life and I find great joy in competition,” said Jones. “I try to be myself. I’m not going to change because of one thing or another … I’m just looking forward to competing. It’s not all going to be perfect, but you’ve got to learn from it and continue to build momentum into the season.”