Ex-Patriots staffer Michael Lombardi blasts Mac Jones for his ‘likability’ in locker room
"Nobody wants to hang out with Mac Jones. Nobody wants to hang out with him. You can see it on these teams."
Mac Jones’s play on the field has left a lot to be desired during the Patriots’ disastrous 2023 season.
But former NFL GM and ex-Patriots staffer Michael Lombardi believes that Jones’s flaws go beyond his lapses in execution on Sundays.
Lombardi, who worked under Bill Belichick as an assistant to the Patriots’ coaching staff from 2014-16, has routinely spoken in support of the legendary head coach during various interviews and podcast appearances, including his own podcast, “The GM Shuffle.”
But in the latest episode of “The GM Shuffle”, Lombardi had few positive things to say about New England’s third-year quarterback.
When posed a question by Femi Abebefe about the Denver Broncos’ resurgence this season, Lombardi discussed Russell Wilson and Denver coach Sean Payton’s ability to get the longtime signal-caller to establish himself as more of a leader and respected presence in the locker room.
But in the midst of that discussion, Lombardi pivoted and focused his lens on Jones and why he feels like the Patriots’ QB has come up short in areas beyond the Xs and Os.
“Wilson has become likable to his team,” Lombardi noted. “And I don’t think we talk about that enough in terms of quarterback evaluation — does the team like the quarterback? I’ll give you the perfect example yesterday in the Meadowlands. Tommy DeVito against Mac Jones, right? … They’re both not NFL-caliber quarterbacks, by no means. But the players on the Giants like DeVito. They really do. You can see they want to play for him. When he makes a mistake or takes a sack, they want to play for him. And he wants to play for them.
“When Mac does it, going back to his cheap shots in this league and his career? All the things, you can see there’s a disdain for him. Like you can see — there’s no sense of energy, there’s no, ‘Hey, he’s my guy, I love this guy.’ No, no. … He blames everybody through his body language, through his mechanics.
“And I think — go to Carson Wentz. What killed Carson Wentz? Was it his arm strength? No. Was it his athleticism? No. It was that he couldn’t connect to his teammates. They hated him. What did [Colts owner] Jim Irsay say? Couldn’t wait to get him out of the building.”
Lombardi noted that the Patriots faced a similar conundrum during his tenure in New England, with the team wondering if a 40-year-old Tom Brady would have an issue connecting with players on offense close to half his age.
But with Jones, Lombardi believes that the struggling quarterback now finds himself in the same boat as other QBs like Wentz and the Jets’ Zach Wilson.
“I mean, Mac Jones is the same way,” Lombardi said of Jones and Wentz. “Bailey Zappe has not endeared — if Bailey Zappe had more Tommy DeVito-like qualities in terms of leadership and embracing it? They might embrace him, but they’re void of that. … Zach Wilson. Nobody on the team wants to hang out with Zach Wilson. Nobody.
“Nobody wants to hang out with Mac Jones. Nobody wants to hang out with him. You can see it on these teams. So when you see a bad quarterback like DeVito — they’ll hang out with him. They’ll go over to his house and have chicken parm. Like, they like him. He’s no good — they like him, though. And I think that’s where we lose sight of it a little bit when we’re evaluating these quarterbacks. Because what is the likability of the player?”
Lombardi’s comments on Jones seem overly harsh against a player whose time in Foxborough does seem to be coming to an end.
But Jones’s reported slide down the depth chart entering Sunday’s home game against the Chargers likely has a lot more to do with his play on the gridiron, rather than his presence in the locker room.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com