“I think Mac was one of those guys who was in bad situations relative to coaching and all that type of stuff.”
Nick Saban has been friends with Bill Belichick for decades as the two forged their respective paths as some of the greatest coaches in football history.
But, the former University of Alabama head coach and seven-time NCAA champion was candid last week when discussing his former Crimson Tide QB, Mac Jones, and the lack of help he received during his tenure with the New England Patriots.
Speaking on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week, Saban said that Jones wasn’t afforded an opportunity to develop properly during his three seasons in New England — especially with Belichick giving him three different offensive coordinators over that stretch.
“I’m so happy for Mac,” Saban told McAfee, as transcribed by ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “I think Mac was one of those guys who was in bad situations relative to coaching and all that type of stuff, and who was the offensive coordinator and how did he get developed.
“Right now, I think he is in a really good circumstance with (Kyle) Shanahan, their offense, the players he has around him. He is a guy who will execute. He’s really, really smart, so he’s going to do exactly what you tell him to do. And he wants to know exactly what you want him to do. I’m not sure he always got told exactly what was expected of him before going to the 49ers.”
Jones impressed as a rookie in 2021 — earning Pro Bowl honors under OC Josh McDaniels after throwing for 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while leading New England to a 10-7 record.
But, things derailed in 2022 after Belichick opted to replace McDaniels (who left to become head coach of the Raiders) with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge as the team’s top offensive coaches.
Patricia — a longtime defensive coach — and a former special-teams coordinator in Judge struggled to help Jones, who closed out the 2022 season with 14 touchdowns over 14 games to go along with 11 interceptions.
The 2023 season saw Jones bottom out under the tutelage of another OC in Bill O’Brien, with Jones throwing for 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions before getting benched — and later traded to the Jaguars that offseason.
Despite his evident struggles in New England, Jones appears to have found an ideal spot in San Francisco — with the former first-round pick now 3-0 this season when starting in place of Brock Purdy.
Over those three appearances, Jones has completed 66.7 percent of his throws for 905 yards, six touchdowns, and just one interception.
With Purdy still sidelined due to injury, Jones could be due for even more reps as the 2025 season carries on.
“Yeah, very possible we see another start for Mac Jones, or even more than that,” NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport noted this weekend. “My understanding of Brock Purdy’s setback, and remember, he was dealing with turf toe — it was two to about five weeks recovery time — he played in that third week, so pretty early on in his recovery, early on in his rehab, and then went out, got tackled in basically sort of the same way, re-aggravated the injury. Then got put back where he was.”
