Patriots legend Devin McCourty blames the organization more than the player for quarterback Mac Jones’ early-career struggles.
Jones had a productive and efficient rookie season before nose-diving in 2022 and 2023 before his eventual benching in Week 12.
McCourty hasn’t seen anything wrong with Jones’ effort or preparation, while he sees plenty of fault in how the Patriots have managed their 2021 first-round pick.
“I mean, to me it’s a no-brainer,” McCourty on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “Everybody in the organization’s raved about the guy’s work ethic. How he’s there early, he’s there late. So, to me, it’s hard to just say, like, it’s his fault … I don’t think, no matter how you feel about him, I don’t think you’d walk away from the situation and say, ‘Hey, you know, this situation that they built around him was really good, and he just didn’t get the job done.’
“Like, to me, there’s no way, if you’re gonna be factual … You have three different offensive coordinators in three years. They had different receivers, and I would say impact players kind of each year. All have been kind of moving parts. Seemed like he kind of built a connection with Jakobi Meyers, then Jakobi’s gone.”
McCourty was teammates with Jones in 2021 and 2022 before retiring last offseason.
“So like it would be hard for me to just say, ‘Hey, like it’s all him.’ Like Kendrick Bourne, [in Jones’] rookie year goes out there and has a, kind of, a career year,” McCourty continued. “Then the next year, Kendrick Bourne doesn’t really play at all…
“And again, I have no problem with the guys that watch and say, ‘Hey, I evaluated this quarterback, his arm strength, his mobility. Like if you want to come up with all of those metrics that you think makes a quarterback good and you think he doesn’t hit those certain criteria that you like in a quarterback, I get that. But I think. overall, if you say, ‘Hey, which side do you see more at fault?’
“To me, it’s no doubt the organization, what’s been put around him, for these straight three years.”
Backup Bailey Zappe has not played better than Jones in five appearances this season. The Patriots were shut out 6-0 in his first start last week.
Zappe is set to start again on Thursday night against the Steelers.