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Mac Jones is coming into prove-it third season with the Patriots under a more intense microscope than ever following a trying 2022 campaign that saw him struggle and clash with offensive coaches. More than a few pundits and fans have already thrown in the towel on the No. 15 overall pick and are looking forward to whichever quarterback comes next.
But Jones' teammates haven't given up hope in the former Rookie of the Year candidate.
Pro Bowl outside linebacker Matthew Judon was the latest Patriot to go to bat for Jones this off-season, expressing his belief in the young quarterback on the "Jim Rome Show" Tuesday.
"Yeah, we believe in him," Judon said when asked if the locker room was behind Jones. "We believe in what he can do, and we know the competitor that he is. That's the thing about playing quarterback: it's a gift and a curse, right? You can, one moment, be the newest best thing to the NFL, and the very next moment you can be terrible. It's a week-to-week league, and it's a year-to-year league. We're going to see what he does next year.
"One year (2022) doesn't define him. But also his first year doesn't define him. We gotta see what he continuously does in this league, and we gotta see how he improves from year to year. But in the locker room, we believe in Mac. We believe in his skills. We believe in what he can do, and we believe in his competitive nature."
Judon's comments on Jones' rise and fall in his second season hit especially hard when you remember the fans chanting for Bailey Zappe in Jones' first start back after recovering from an ankle injury. That specter never quite vanished for the rest of the year, and Jones got a significant amount of negative press for the offense's poor performance and his ire at Matt Patricia late in the year despite being put in a bad position.
That said, Jones has to deliver now that he has competent coaching in offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and make an even more substantial leap than he was expected to make in 2022. His future with the Patriots, and career as a whole, likely depend on it.
But if there's one thing we probably don't need to keep asking ourselves, it's whether or not his team believes in him. The guys in that locker room keep on showing us that they do.
