Patriots coach Bill Belichick addressed the media after Day 2 of the NFL draft and was asked about the status of starting quarterback Mac Jones heading into his third season with the team.
After a strong rookie year in 2021, Jones took a step back last year in production due to a high-ankle sprain and turnover with New England’s offensive coaching staff following Josh McDaniels’s departure to the Raiders.
Belichick was asked about reports that the Patriots were shopping Jones on the trade market earlier in the offseason. He gave a blunt answer to that question.
“Yeah, well I’m not going to respond to anonymous reports, Greg, so…” Belichick said in response to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal.
When Bedard asked Belichick to elaborate on Jones’s status as the team’s quarterback heading into the season, Belichick gave a more thorough response.
“Yeah, I mean look, Mac’s been our quarterback for two years,” Belichick said. “And as I tell the team every year, each player, each coach, we have to re-establish and prove ourselves every year. That’s what this league is, so that’s for all of us. 2023 is ’23, we’ll see how ’23 goes.”
Here's the full exchange between Bill Belichick and @GregABedard about Mac Jones pic.twitter.com/Yx9xHGcxle
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandallNESN) April 29, 2023
Bedard mentioned that Belichick was very complimentary of Jones heading into last season and asked whether he still viewed his quarterback the same way.
“Absolutely,” Belichick said definitively.
There is no doubt some pressure on the long-time Patriots coach heading into the ’23 season after missing out on the playoffs for the second time in three years post-Tom Brady last season.
New England’s offense was woeful, and Jones certainly played a part in that. His improvement with new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien will be paramount to the Patriots getting back to being the feared team in the AFC that they once were.
