When the Patriots selected Mac Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, some people doubted whether he would be the solution to the team’s problems at quarterback.
Tom Brady‘s departure a year earlier left a huge vacancy in New England, with Cam Newton failing to impress in 2020. However, Bill Belichick trusted in the 15th overall pick from the very beginning, naming him the starting quarterback ahead of Newton.
Jones went on to have a remarkable rookie season, leading the Patriots to their first playoffssince Brady left. Now, many people believe the future is bright for New England with Jones at the helm. But Julian Edelman warns that he has yet a lot to prove.
Julian Edelman explains what Mac Jones needsto be great
While Jones’ first year in the NFL gave people reasons for optimism, it’s true that we have yet to see more from him. As Robert Kraft said, this year will be very telling. That’s what Edelman suggested in an appearance on the I AM ATHLETE podcast.
“If he strengthens up, and he uses last year for the starting point, and he doesn’t smell his own roses and he goes out and he gets better this year – because we ultimately see our biggest leaps from that Year 1 to Year 2 for that quarterback, I think he could be a good quarterback,” Edelman said, viaNick O’Malley of MassLive.com.“He’s not there quite yet.”
Of course, it’s still too soon to tell whether the Patriots have found in Jones a long-term quarterback. Jones finished his rookie season with 2,813 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, helping the Patriots reach the Wild Card round of the playoffs. This year, we’ll see if he can do even better.