After suffering yet another disappointing defeat in Week 10, it seems like the New England Patriots have intriguing plans for struggling quarterback Mac Jones.
Speaking on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Patriots source Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston said that Jones will “probably” drop to the third-string quarterback position behind Bailey Zappe and Will Grier (via Paul Kasabian of Bleacher Report):
“Mac Jones is going to almost certainly sit. I think he’ll probably be dropped down to third-string. You’re gonna elevate Will Grier and you’re gonna elevate the player that took the final snaps the other day…Bailey Zappe.
“If I was a betting man, and I don’t have any intel on this, but Will Grier gets the reps to be the starter, and if he fails in that, then Zappe would start and Grier would be No. 2 and you proceed through the end of the year and try to maintain the culture.”
Jones was benched in favor of Zappe on the Pats’ last drive during their Week 10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, according to head coach Bill Belichick. With just over four minutes remaining, Jones threw an expensive red zone interception.
But following a false spike play, Zappe threw a game-winning interception, so the switch had no effect. New England’s record after the loss was 2-8 for the year.
Fire Mac Jones into the sun. This is the worst throw of his career pic.twitter.com/0upOL2qNLn
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) November 12, 2023
After a strong debut season in 2021, Jones had a disappointing 2022 campaign; nonetheless, many pointed the finger at Belichick for assigning defensive specialist Matt Patricia and special teams veteran Joe Judge to lead the offense.
With New England on a bye week, head coach Bill Belichick has plenty of time to choose the starting quarterback for the New York Giants.
