Patriots veteran Devin McCourty hasn't been shy about his belief in third-year quarterback Mac Jones on WEEI's airwaves. He took his support for the young passer national during a Monday appearance on NFL Network's "Good Morning, Football!"
Asked by co-host Peter Schrager about the perception of Jones within the Patriots locker room after a tumultuous 2022 season for the quarterback and the team, McCourty didn't hold back.
“I think he’s the future of New England. Any doubts, I think you’re wrong if you don’t think that. He’s in that building right now doing different things, working with guys, talking to guys; that’s what he wants,” the veteran safety said.
McCourty particularly said he's excited for Jones to "have stability around him" in the form of Bill O'Brien following a year of Matt Patricia, Joe Judge and Bill Belichick -- none of whom had ever called offensive plays before -- running the offense after Josh McDaniels' departure last off-season.
The future Patriots Hall-of-Famer also hinted at the team going to "get another guy to be a receiver" and advocated for New England to bring back "my guy" Jakobi Meyers in free agency to support Jones, who must rebound strongly in his third season with contract extension talks on the horizon.
Additionally, McCourty pushed back on the narrative that Jones, whom he reminded everyone was a team captain last year and was essentially an unnamed captain as a rookie, upset teammates with his late-season outbursts at coaches or "dirty" on-field plays, like his tripping of Bengals cornerback Eli Apple.
"As a teammate, I don't care who he trips out there. He wants to win," McCourty said. "…I think some of the rumbling that always comes out -- we always talk about this -- 'sources say Mac Jones rubbing people the wrong way.' Who?! Did he rub somebody the wrong way? Probably before. Have people left meetings and said, 'Man, Dev's an a-hole today'? Yeah!
What I love about Mac is that he came into a leadership role as a quarterback and he speaks to what he picks. He speaks about, 'Hey, I don't like this play. I want to do this play.' Same thing when I'm in there and I'm like, 'I don't like this play.' Because we're the guys out there. I think what people don't always understand -- in our locker room, Bill pushes that. If you don't like something…tell us, we'll throw it out."
Sounds like we might know the sources of the "Mac is an insufferable 'why guy'" stuff from the Patriots locker room (looking at you, Patricia and Judge).
It's worth noting that not all Patriots players might feel as glowingly about Jones as McCourty does. But the evidence throughout the year from multiple players suggest the team is very much behind him, and McCourty, one of New England's most visible leaders, is leading the charge.
