Kirk Herbstreit: Drastically improved Mac Jones will be Pro Bowl caliber QB in the near future
Herbstreit said Jones was one of the most impressive college quarterbacks he's ever talked to.
Mac Jones and the Patriots’ offense will be drastically improved this year now that New England has an offensive coordinator again, according to Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN.
“Give me a break on what they were doing offensively last year,” Herbstreit said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “[Jones] had no chance. Not only did they they not have weapons around him, but schematically he had no chance. So to blame him is a bunch of bull[expletive].”
The Patriots operated without an offensive coordinator last season, with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge sharing responsibilities. The results were awful for the offense as a whole, but particularly for Jones, whose performance regressed significantly during his second season in New England.
To rectify this, New England hired Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator this offseason.
“You get Bill O’Brien, who is as good of an offensive mind as there is to come in there and work with Mac Jones,” Herbstreit said. “I’m telling you right now you’re going to see a drastic change in what he’s doing as a quarterback and what the Patriots are able to do on that side of the football.”
Jones has a reputation of being a bit of a “hothead” dating back to his college days, Herbstreit said. Jones had several outbursts that were shown on camera during games last season, and Herbstreit said he understands why.
“Who would not be frustrated with what [the Patriots] were trying to do last year?” Herbstreit said. “I think anybody who is a competitor is going to get frustrated. But, you build in that background and this guy is a leader. He doesn’t have some of the stature that some of these guys do by don’t be fooled by that, this guy is one of a kind when it comes to the intangibles and what he can bring to a team.”
Herbstreit said he feels passionate about Jones’s ability because of what he saw Jones do at Alabama, and the conversation he had with Jones before the 2021 NFL Draft. He believes Jones can become one of the “elite” quarterbacks in the NFL.
“Mac Jones is going to be a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in the very near future, whether it’s this year, next year, the next coming years,” Herbstreit said. “He’s that good … He was honestly the most impressive quarterback I’ve ever spoken to in college about what he sees and how his brain processes and how it fires.”
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