A former star of the New England Patriots has slammed Bill Belichick as being the reason why Mac Jones never managed to make it in Boston in the NFL.
Jones was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a draft pick, bringing to an end a miserable period at the Gillette Stadium which saw him throw a 66% pass completion rate but 35 interceptions for 46 touchdowns as he failed to impress in the wake of Tom Brady.
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As a result, he was quickly hushed out of the door just months after Belichick was fired, although the reason why it didn’t work out for the 25-year-old was not his fault according to Damian Harris, who played with him for two seasons.
“What happened in New England to Mac Jones,” Harris said, as per ProFootballTalk. “Was because of the fact you took away an offensive coordinator who coached him to be a Pro Bowler and almost coached us to winning our division with a rookie quarterback in his first year,”
“And then you take – whenever Josh McDaniels left – Matt Patricia, who has coached defenses his entire life, and Joe Judge, who has been a special teams coach, coached receivers at some point. And then you just throw them in there and be like, ‘Hey, coach this kid up.'”
McDaniels, who was with the Patriots for 14 seasons and served as their offense coordinator from 2006-2008 and 2012-2021, helped guide the franchise to six Super Bowls as a coach and assistant.
He then exited the organization and headed to the Las Vegas Raiders, where he now served as their head coach until October 2023 when he was fired after the franchise held a 3-5 record in the AFC West.
What is Jones’ future?
Jones, now in the Jaguars organization, will have a future in the NFL but for now will spend time serving as the back-up to Trevor Lawrence although he will become a free agent at the end of 2024 after the franchise already declined his fifth-year option.
Returning to his home, he was expected to compete with C.J Beathard in Jacksonville. The Jaguars elected for Lawrence‘s fifth-year option instead.