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Bill Belichick told reporters Monday the Patriots are about to critically evaluate everything about the 2022 season to get to the bottom of why his team went 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
The quarterback position will be part of that process, according to his comments on Mac Jones.
When asked if the former No. 15 overall pick would be the Patriots’ starting quarterback moving forward, Belichick once again declined to explicitly endorse Jones as the team’s signal-caller of the future.
“Mac has the ability to play quarterback in this league," Belichick said. "We have to all work together to find the best way as a football team, obviously quarterback is a big position, to be more productive.”
If you think Jones isn’t the answer at quarterback, this might be getting your hopes up for change at the position next season, whether via the draft, free agency, trade or Bailey Zappe. But there’s also another way to read what Belichick said about Jones that’s a bit less reactionary to a question he was never likely to fully answer anyway.
On one hand, Belichick has repeatedly refused to unequivocally get behind Jones as New England’s quarterback of even a few weeks from now, let alone next year or 10 years down the line. If Belichick had the second-year version of Patrick Mahomes, he’d probably be talking about the quarterback position much differently – though even Mahomes likely wouldn’t be a star in this dysfunctional situation.
However, Belichick did go beyond the “we’re looking at everything” line he used on Patricia when talking about Jones and spoke about the quarterback as part of the offensive struggles rather than specifically saying “we need more from the quarterback” as other coaches have.
Does that mean Belichick thinks Jones is amazing? No. Even Jones’ best days this year had some rough stuff sprinkled in; the question remains how much you blame on him versus the offense as a whole.
But the coach’s comments seemed to suggest Jones is both clearly a starting-caliber quarterback, which he is, and that he can work with the soon-to-be-third-year passer. He might not have been the antidote to what ailed this offense, but he certainly wasn’t the poison.
Assuming the Patriots do see Jones as someone to build with, though, how do they go about doing that? Because there’s certainly reason to think Jones needs more talent around him to succeed than someone with more physical tools. Is New England willing and able to get the best out of his skillset going forward?
In any case, don’t read too much into Belichick’s comments about Jones. He’s almost definitely going to be the Patriots’ starting quarterback in Week 1 of 2023. The people coaching him on offense and what the operation looks like are the only things that will change.
