The Four Year Detour: Mac Jones’ Journey
After a chaotic draft saga and a scenic route through New England, Mac Jones finally commands Kyle Shanahan's offense, proving his worth as San Francisco's high-stakes insurance policy.
Video Transcript
It took four years in the senior route through New England and Jacksonville, but Mac Jones finally became a 49er.
After appearing on a recent episode of Bussin' With the Boys podcast, the 49ers premium backup quarterback took a ch-- nostalgic trip down memory lane, saying, "I remember, like, all the hype leading up to it, but yeah, I think everything happens for a reason.
I'm here now where, where I'm at, and I do think they traded up for somebody, and I knew it was one of those two people, and I was one of those two people.
So I guess if you're gam-- if you're a gambling man, it's a fifty/fifty shot at the start."
The forty-niners ultimately rolled the dice on Trey Lance, sending a king's ransom to the Miami Dolphins to secure the slot.
Jones slid down to the New England Patriots at number fifteen, and looking back, the twenty-seven-year-old quarterback couldn't help but chuckle at how much his draft capital with John Lynch could have saved by staying patient.
"You could have just picked me at twelve," Jones jerked with a grin.
"I don't know if I'm worth three first-round picks, but shit, sign me up."
While his Pro Bowl rookie campaign in New England gave way to a highly fractured climate under Bill Belichick and subsequent trade to the Jaguars in twenty twenty-four, Jones revealed that San Francisco's front office never stopped trying to acquire him.
He said, "I think even the year I got traded, they were trying to get me back in San Francisco from the Patriots to the Jags.
So then they were trying to get me to San Francisco then, but they ended up just not doing it."
Lynch and Shanahan finally got their man ahead of the twenty twenty-five season, securing Jones on a two-year contract to serve as an insurance policy behind franchise pilot Brock Purdy.
That investment paid massive dividends when Purdy was sidelined with a severe turf toe injury this year.
He appeared in eleven games, executing eight critical regular season starts, completing a career-high seventy percent of his passes on two hundred and eighty-nine attempts for two thousand one hundred and fifty-one yards, thirteen touchdowns, and six interceptions.
He ended with a five and three starting records to keep the 49ers firmly afloat in the NFC landscape.
Jones notes that his massive professional solace is how division rival Sam Darnold completely resurrected his career after spending a year absorbing Shanahan's system in Santa Clara.
He closed by saying, "But if you can get that chance again, I feel like I can really elevate people around me, and whether that comes sooner or later or never, I know I'm going to be ready for it, and I hope it does happen."
