We now know that New England Patriots head coach and quasi general manager Bill Belichick has shopped Mac Jones throughout the 2023 offseason.

This report comes to us via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and is an absolute stunner. New England selected Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The quarterback put up an absolutely stellar rookie campaign en route to leading New England to a surprise playoff appearance.

Things took a turn for Jones as a sophomore. His inconsistencies coupled with poor offensive coaching led to a downtick in production. Jones then found himself in Belichick’s dog house. We also know that New England is high on 2022 fourth-round pick Bailey Zappe.

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In Bill Belichick’s pursuit of glory, nothing is off the table, even idea of trading Mac Jones

Internally, there’s a belief that the gap between Zappe and Mac Jones just isn’t too wide. This could very well lead to New England opting to get draft assets for Jones while installing Zappe as its starting quarterback.

There’s another scenario in play that suggests the Pats would simply swap Jones out for a high pick in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft. Either way, there is a strong market for a young quarterback of Jones’ ilk. Let’s look at five ideal landing spots.

 

Minnesota Vikings add young starting quarterback

There are other rumors floating about that the San Francisco 49ers showed renewed interest in Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins during the recently-concluded NFL Scouting Combine. While that seems to be an unlikely scenario, Minnesota has not committed to Cousins beyond the 2023 season. There’s a reason for this. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Co. want to get younger at that position.

The idea here would be to entice New England with multiple early-to-mid-round picks as a way to lure Jones from the Patriots. Jones would sit behind Cousins for a season before ultimately taking over in 2024. If Minnesota ends up dealing Cousins this offseason, Jones would be more than capable of starting Week 1.

 

Los Angeles Rams find Matthew Stafford’s heir-apparent

From a financial perspective, Los Angeles is seemingly stuck with Matthew Stafford through at least next season. While the team has torn it apart this offseason, moving off the high-priced quarterback would result in a $51 million dead cap hit. With that said, the Rams could trade Stafford next offseason while saving $31 million against the cap.

Either way, general manager Les Snead needs to look at the future of the Rams’ quarterback position beyond Stafford. If Jones’ 2021 performance is any indication, he could make sense.

  • Mac Jones stats (2021): 67.6% completion, 3,801 yards, 22 TD, 13 INT, 92.5 QB rating

Los Angeles boasts the 36th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Perhaps it could offer that up to aquire Jones from the Pats. The Rams would still then have nine picks to help fill the massive amount of holes that they boast.