College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was spitting straight fire when talking up New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones during a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
Not only does Herbstreit believe Jones is going to be one of the top-three most improved quarterbacks in the NFL in 2023, but he believes the former Alabama standout can turn into a perennial Pro Bowler with some offensive structure finally in New England.
“I’m not going to say they’re going to be the most improved offense, and he’ll be the most improved quarterback in the league,” said Herbstreit. “But he’s going to be in the top-three, and without a doubt, the Patriots are going to be one of the top-three improved offenses. I’m 1,000 percent behind Mac Jones.
“Of all of the younger quarterbacks that had an opportunity to kind of prove their consistency and what they can offer, I’m just telling you right now, I sit here in June, I’m telling you right now that Mac Jones is going to be a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in the very near future, whether it’s this year or the next coming year, couple of years. He’s that good.”
"I'm 1000% behind Mac Jones and without a doubt that offense will be much improved"@KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/dIpmft6Xko
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 22, 2023
People tend to forget that Jones was a Pro Bowl quarterback as a rookie when Josh McDaniels was the Patriots’ offensive coordinator.
Jones obviously took a huge step back last season, when the offense was passed along to longtime defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. The unit stumbled at every turn, and Jones’ reputation as a promising, young quarterback took a hit in the process.
That could all change with O’Brien taking the reins and bringing a sense of normalcy back to the offensive side of the ball. Jones threw for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions under McDaniels’ tutelage.
A more mature version of that player could be everything Herbstreit is predicting Jones to be.
“I did a thing for the draft in 2021, where I sat down with Trevor [Lawrence], Justin Fields and a few other guys that went out that year,” Herbstreit said. “There were like five of them in the first round, and he was by far, by far, the most impressive guy. …Everybody talks about [Joe] Burrow in 2019, I would say 2020 with Mac because when you talk to him about the offense, he was honestly the most impressive quarterback I’ve ever spoken to in college about what he sees and how his brain processes and how it fires.”
That’s lofty praise from an analyst that has spoken to a lot of quarterbacks in his time. Whether Jones can live up to that sort of hype or not remains to be seen.
