The more we hear, the more it seems Mac Jones and the Patriots aren't on the same page.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer has already shed light New England's apparent displeasure with Jones questioning their process this season -- for example, why Matt Patricia and Joe Judge have significant roles in running the offense and why they chose to change the offense after his successful first season.
On "The Dan Patrick Show" yesterday, Breer said that disconnect extended to the handling of the ankle injury that has kept Jones out of action since Week 4.
In particular, the insider seemed to confirm the Patriots initially wanted Jones to undergo surgery on his badly sprained ankle, but the quarterback had other ideas.
"[The Patriots] wanted him to get the 'tightrope' [surgery]," Breer said. "Initially when he got hurt with the high ankle sprain, it was thought to be a pretty severe high ankle sprain. He's seen guys go through this, and he thought, 'I'm going to be better off just rehabbing the injury.' And there was some level of disagreement there."
Jones even sought a second opinion after his MRI confirmed the sprain, which was taken then as a sign that Jones may have been trying to avoid surgery. Since then, the high ankle sprain has been described as "less severe" than originally thought, according to Breer, which may allow Jones to return on a similar timeline to what Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa did after getting the tightrope surgery while at Alabama.
Still, his apparent decision to go against the team's wishes with his injury adds yet another layer to the speculation about his relationship with the Patriots, which has been further complicated by Bailey Zappe's emergence since Jones has been out.
"I think Mac's getting his job back," he said, "but I do think there's a little bit of a lesson being taught here. We're putting a fourth-round rookie out of Western Kentucky out there. Look what happens when he does what we tell him to."
As Breer points out, Jones has admitted in the past to asking "why" a lot -- not to be a pain but to understand what he needs to do and how to do it. If that's become a problem for the Patriots and Jones has started to chafe against such a "do as we say" attitude, they might have bigger issues than what to do with Jones once he returns to health.
