One of the more fascinating QB debuts with a team in recent memory will take place today, with Mac Jones starting for a 49ers team that strongly considered drafting him four years ago. Jones circling back to the 49ers this offseason did not receive tremendous attention, given Brock Purdy‘s unquestioned QB1 status, but it is now quite relevant due to the starter’s injuries.
With Purdy sidelined due to a shoulder injury and a bout with turf toe, Jones is stepping in. Jones joined the 49ers on a two-year, $7MM deal that included $4.75MM guaranteed at signing. This was not believed to be the former first-rounder’s top offer, with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini noting the ex-Patriots and Jaguars passer rejected bigger offers to sign with the Niners.
Jones’ market did not produce connections to other teams before his March 12 San Francisco commitment, but he will follow the Sam Darnold reset path as Purdy’s backup. Darnold played out the 2023 season as the 49ers’ QB2, and the $4.5MM contract worked as a springboard to better opportunities. Jones produced a better pre-San Francisco season than anything Darnold offered, via the 2021 Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up campaign that led New England to the playoffs, though his steep freefall since that point differs from Darnold’s early-career path.
The Jags acquired Jones from the Pats for just a sixth-round pick and needed him for seven 2024 starts due to Trevor Lawrence injuries. Not particularly impressive (8:8 TD-INT ratio, 6.4 yards per attempt) with a 4-13 team, Jones still commanded the 49ers’ attention. Considering the franchise’s interest in the former national championship-winning Alabama arm four years ago, it was unsurprising to see Kyle Shanahan revisit him via free agency.
Plenty has come out about Shanahan’s Jones interest in 2021, and Russini reaffirms the 49ers’ blockbuster trade-up move (via the Dolphins) came with Jones in mind. Shanahan has said the 49ers were considering Jones and Trey Lance that year; the 49ers’ John Lynch– and Adam Peters-led front office has long been believed to have talked Shanahan out of Jones at No. 3 due to the better value (at the time, at least) Lance brought. Lance never proved a fit in Shanahan’s offense and was sent to Dallas for a fourth-round pick months after the 49ers signed Darnold.
Considering Shanahan’s success with Purdy and Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco (and other QBs during his OC stops), it is fairly safe to assume Jones would have been better served by being a 49ers draftee rather than going 15th to the Patriots. Bill Belichick‘s penultimate year as Pats HC involved a bizarre move to install Matt Patricia as the primary offensive play-caller, and Jones — whose Belichick relationship was not exactly strong — could not recapture his rookie-year form under Bill O’Brien in 2023. Jones ended that season on the bench, as the Patriots closed out the Belichick era with Bailey Zappe at the controls.
The 49ers’ trade without a consensus on where to go at No. 3 was always a bit odd, even if the Lawrence-Zach Wilson order atop the draft was well known by the time the team pulled the trigger on a deal that sent two first-rounders and a third to Miami. Jones, 27, now has a chance to craft a midcareer resurgence of sorts. It will be interesting to see how Jones looks given the downward trajectory his career has taken since a promising rookie slate. The 49ers not having George Kittle available will hurt the fifth-year QB’s cause, but the team will have Jauan Jennings after the wideout was questionable with a shoulder injury.
Purdy is not viewed as likely to suit up in Week 3 against the Cardinals, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, even though the recently extended passer “progressed a lot” this week. Indeed, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport adds the 49ers believe the turf toe injury Purdy is battling is not as significant as first thought. This puts Week 4 (against the Jaguars) in play for a Purdy return. Though, the two- to five-week timetable initially given to the fourth-year starter could certainly point to caution on the 49ers’ part.