Latest news with #MacJones
USA Today
10 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
NFC West backup QB rankings: Jimmy Garoppolo is No. 1 again
See how the four backup QBs in the NFC West stack up against each other entering the 2025 season. It is the time of the offseason, as we have done for years here on Cards Wire, where we go through each position and rank players and position groups in the NFC West. We continue by looking at the backup quarterbacks for the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. This year, only the Rams have the same backup. The Cardinals signed Jacoby Brissett, the 49ers added Mac Jones and the Seahawks brought back Drew Lock after he spent a year with the Giants. How do they stack up against one another this year? 1. Jimmy Garoppolo, Los Angeles Rams Garoppolo only appeared in one game last season for the Rams, in Week 18 when they rested their starters, having clinched the division. But he is the one backup quarterback who has been a high-level starter in his career. He was 38-17 as a starter for the 49ers and led them to the Super Bowl. 2. Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals He enters his 10th NFL season and has started 53 games, although he is only 19-34 in those games. He is one of the most respected backups in the league. Something very important for someone coming in as a replacement — he hold the NFL's lowest all-time interception percentage at 1.4%. He takes care of the football. 3. Mac Jones, San Francisco 49ers Jones, the former top-15 pick, went from being a promising rookie to, at best, a league-average quarterback. He is now 20-29 as a starter but 10-22 since his rookie year, and he has nearly as many interceptions (31) as touchdown passes (32) in the last three seasons. He will turn the ball over. 4. Drew Lock, Seattle Seahawks Lock is back! He was traded to the Seahawks from Denver, spent 2023 there, signed with the Giants and now is back as the Seahawks' backup quarterback behind Sam Darnold. Lock hasn't even had one good NFL season. He has a good part of his rookie season when he went 4-1 as a starter and threw seven touchdowns and three picks, but he is a turnover-prone player. He led the NFL with 15 interceptions in 2020, despite only playing in 13 games. He is 10-18 as a starter and has a 3.5% interception percentage in his career, more than double that of Brissett. Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Former Patriots QB Mac Jones says his new team sees football ‘the correct way'
Mac Jones is on his third NFL stop and working on getting his career back on track. He thinks he's in the right place to do it. The former New England Patriots starting quarterback is set to learn under San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who's generally regarded as one of the best offensive minds in the league. Advertisement Talking to reporters Wednesday, Jones sure sounded excited to work within Shanahan's coaching style. 'It's really interesting to watch it and see how they see the game, because it is the correct way to see it. And as you can tell, the quarterback play is very efficient,' Jones said. Jones is set to have the same role – an AFC East castoff turned backup behind Brock Purdy – as Sam Darnold a couple of years ago. Talking to reporters Thursday, Jones said that was part of the attraction for him signing with San Francisco in free agency. When asked what makes Shanahan's offense so quarterback-friendly, Jones admitted it was 'definitely a loaded question.' But then explained the elements of Shanahan's coaching that he thinks work for quarterbacks. Advertisement 'I think they do a great job explaining what the expectation of each play is and why they're doing a certain play,' Jones said. 'There's nothing left up to doubt, if that makes sense. Everything's based on timing and rhythm and also playing off structure. So (it) has all three elements of quarterback play.' Ever since making the Pro Bowl as a Patriots rookie in 2021, Jones has been looking to get back on track in the NFL. He famously fell out of favor toward the end of his tenure in New England before being traded to the Jaguars in 2024. Jones started this past season as a backup in Jacksonville. But after a major injury to Trevor Lawrence, Jones became the interim starter, with middling results. Now, Jones will be looking spark his career once again. We'll see this year if he can pull of a Darnold-like revival in the NFL. More Patriots Content Read the original article on MassLive.
CBS News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Mac Jones embraces fresh start with 49ers after getting passed over in 2021 NFL Draft
Mac Jones is happy finally to be with coach Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers even if it came four years after many expected. Jones was linked to San Francisco leading into the 2021 draft but was passed over and ended up in New England. Now after an up and down first four years in the NFL, Jones is trying to revive his career as a backup to Brock Purdy in Shanahan's offense. "Obviously the world works in mysterious ways," Jones said Wednesday. "I'm glad to be back here and learning from a great group of guys, and that's players and coaches. You go where you go in the draft, right? You don't get a lot of choice over that, but I'm definitely excited to be here now." Jones and San Francisco were closely linked leading up to the 2021 draft after the Niners traded three first-round picks to get the No. 3 overall selection. Shanahan was looking to draft a franchise quarterback and was debating between Jones and Trey Lance before San Francisco finally opted for Lance. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws the ball during San Francisco 49ers OTA on June 4, 2025 at SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara. Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The move backfired as Lance struggled to stay healthy and adjust to Shanahan's system. He made only four starts in two seasons before being traded to Dallas for a fourth-round pick in August 2023, having lost the starting job to Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 draft. Jones had a fast start to his career, helping New England make the playoffs in his rookie season. But Jones regressed the next year after offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left for Las Vegas, and he was replaced as the starter in 2023. Jones was traded to Jacksonville last March and started seven games for the Jaguars, throwing eight TD passes and eight interceptions. Jones has made 49 career starts, posting an 84.9 passer rating with 54 TD passes, 44 interceptions and averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. He said he didn't hesitate to pick San Francisco in his first shot at free agency and has hopes a stint as a backup here can spark his career in a similar fashion to what happened to Sam Darnold after he spent the 2023 season with the Niners. "I always love watching their tape," Jones said. "When you look at stats around the league, they're always in the top five, you see the little San Francisco logo. So I always love watching what Kyle did throughout the years and to finally get in and learn it, it's been a little bit challenging, but also a great challenge because it's things, some things I've done and some things I haven't done at all." Jones has had a different play caller every season in the NFL and said learning another new offense is like "drinking from a water hose." Quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi said that experience pays dividends this spring. "He's not new to this," Lombardi said. "He's not new to kind of new terminology new footwork and how to be coached differently. The one thing I love about Mac is he's always here. He's always willing to try new try new things. He's not stuck in his ways, and he really wants to try and do it our way." Lombardi and Jones have familiarity with Lombardi serving as receivers coach in New England when Jones was a rookie in 2021. Jones and Purdy have a relationship that goes even further, with Jones hosting Purdy on a recruiting visit to Alabama in 2018 and the two have thrown together in the offseason near Jacksonville before Jones signed with San Francisco. "We talked about that and joked around with it a little bit, just him being at Alabama and really before he took off too with his career and the amazing, obviously the National Championship run he had and then getting drafted and everything," Purdy said. "It's pretty cool. We were both just young kids both heading into college and then now here we are on the same team. It's pretty cool."
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why ESPN believes ex-Patriots QB could revive career with 49ers
Mac Jones might be in the perfect spot to revive his NFL career. The quarterback signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March after spending a not-so-great 2024 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Before that, Jones spent his first three years with the New England Patriots. Advertisement But things didn't go well in New England. After a promising rookie season in 2021, Jones couldn't build off that year, regressed and struggled to find a groove under center. Now in San Francisco, Jones will try to start fresh. And even though it's likely Brock Purdy will remain the team's QB1, ESPN's Bill Barnwell believes Jones is in the perfect spot to start over. And it's because of the path Sam Darnold took. 'If there's one player attempting to explicitly go on the Darnold rejuvenation path, it's Jones. Darnold restarted his career by joining the 49ers in 2023, where he spent the season as a backup to Brock Purdy,' Barnwell wrote. 'Darnold threw only 46 passes in a San Francisco uniform, most of which came in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Rams. Working with coach Kyle Shanahan apparently did enough to rebuild Darnold's confidence before he left for a one-year deal with Minnesota, though. You know what happened next.' Advertisement Darnold, like Jones, was a first-round pick and expected to help turn a franchise around. But his time with the New York Jets was disastrous. He then spent two seasons with the Carolina Panthers before latching on with the 49ers. Darnold's 10 appearances in San Francisco was enough for the Minnesota Vikings to take a chance on him where he turned in a 14-3 season as a starter en route to a Wild Card appearance. Darnold's performance earned him a three-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason. Whether Jones has a similar path to Darnold remains to be seen, but Barnwell believes Jones will have "best offensive infrastructure Jones has played in since his time at Alabama." "Jones probably isn't going to win the job away from the $265 million QB," Barnwell wrote, 'but don't be surprised if he plays well enough to get a more significant opportunity elsewhere on his next deal in 2026.' More Patriots Content Read the original article on MassLive.
Washington Post
05-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Mac Jones embraces fresh start with the 49ers after getting passed over by team in 2021 draft
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mac Jones is happy finally to be with coach Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers even if it came four years after many expected. Jones was linked to San Francisco leading into the 2021 draft but was passed over and ended up in New England. Now after an up and down first four years in the NFL, Jones is trying to revive his career as a backup to Brock Purdy in Shanahan's offense.
