Devin McCourty appeared on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Monday and made things clear concerning the tension between Mac Jones and the Patriots, and according to him, he and the Patriots aren’t giving up on Mac Jones via Fox Sports;
Amid instability in 2022, Jones watched rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe jump into the starting role for a few games while Jones dealt with his ankle injury. Zappe played well, particularly against the Cleveland Browns in Week 6, when Zappe put up 309 passing yards and two touchdowns. After that performance, coach Bill Belichick would not say publicly that Jones would be the uncontested starter upon his return. Belichick also seemed to put Jones on a short leash in his initial return from the ankle injury — apparently benching the quarterback after an early interception in Week 7.
Between Zappe’s solid play and Jones’ erratic performances, the Patriots seemed to be in a quarterback controversy. New England, however, stuck with Jones from Week 8 to the end of the season — not putting Zappe into games at any point.
In early December 2022, Jones said publicly that he wanted to be coached harder. A team source told me that ahead of the 2022 season, coaches were instructed not to be too hard on Jones in an effort to protect him from being too critical of himself. There had been an issue in 2021 with Jones struggling after getting yelled at, per the source. That source also suggested, in hindsight, it might have been a mistake to go easy on the quarterback.
McCourty addressed that reporting on Monday.
“‘Sources say Mac Jones rubbing people the wrong way.’ Who? Did he rub somebody the wrong way in a meeting? Probably,” McCourty said. “Have people left a meeting and said, ‘Man, Dev’s an a-hole today?’ … Mac came into a leadership role as a quarterback, and he speaks to what he thinks. He speaks about, ‘Hey man, I don’t like this play. I want to do this.’”
Flip to the next page to watch Devin McCourty speak…
