A majority of New England Patriots talk earlier this offseason surrounded young quarterback Mac Jones and his struggles as a sophomore in 2022. There was even some talk that New England might trade the former Alabama star and start anew at quarterback.
With Patriots training camp getting going here soon, we have not heard a lot about this. Most believe that Jones will be New England’s QB1 when the team opens the regular season against the Philadelphia Eagles on September 10.
Not so fast. Veteran Patriots safety Adrian Phillips appeared on NFL Network recently and discussed their current quarterback situation. He doesn’t seem like someone locked into Jones as the starting quarterback in Week 1. His comments could be a harbinger of things to come moving forward on the summer.
“Man, you’re trying to get me in trouble. One thing I’ll say, and pretty much the only thing I’ll say is that I’m not in the meetings with them, so I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I will say that Mac is competing, all those guys are competing, and we’re going to ride with whoever’s out there. That’s a decision that’s up to Bill and those guys on offensive side, but we’re rocking with them either way and we’re just kind of worried about the defensive side.”
Adrian Phillips when asked about Mac Jones and the Patriots’ QB situation
Competing? Quarterback competition? These are not words we’ve heard come from the Patriots since the end of last season.
Reports back in April indicated that there was a real rift between Jones and legendary Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. It’s something we saw come to the forefront during a down 2022 season for the young quarterback and the organization.
Related: Ranking Mac Jones and the NFL’s 32 starting QBs
Could Bailey Zappe beat out Mac Jones for New England Patriots QB job?
New England surprised many by taking Bailey Zappe in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Jones had just led the Patriots to a playoff appearance and seemed to be the QB of the future.
A product of Western Kentucky, Zappe played pretty well in limited action as a rookie last season. He threw five touchdowns against three interceptions in four games (two starts). At this point, there was some thought that people within the Patriots’ organization didn’t see much of a difference between Jones and Zappe.
“Internally, I don’t know if they see this massive gap between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. I’m not saying they think Bailey’s as good as Mac, but there was some element of Bailey doing what he was coached to do last year that I think gave Bailey the edge to some degree for a little while there,” Albert Breer from Sports Illustrated noted.
If the rift between Jones and Belichick is real, we know who will come out on top. Meanwhile, Jones not having the full support of his veteran teammates could be a tell heading into camp. It’s at least something to watch.
