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The San Francisco 49ers managed to sign Brock Purdy to a five-year, $265 million contract extension this offseason, but that isn’t the only quarterback move they have made as of late. The Niners also scooped up Mac Jones in free agency to be Purdy’s backup, although he recently joked that he had some beef to settle with head coach Kyle Shanahan before he joined the team.
San Francisco passed on Jones in the 2021 NFL Draft, opting to select Trey Lance, despite rumors continually linking them to the former Alabama Crimson Tide star ahead of the draft. Jones landed with the New England Patriots instead, where he quickly flamed out, resulting in him getting traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, Jones is with the 49ers, and it sounds like he’s excited to put Shanahan’s draft snub behind him as he prepares for the 2025 season.
“At the outset of free agency, Jones and Shanahan texted, with Jones even joking that the pair ‘got in a huge fight’ over the Niners’ original draft decision. ‘The world works in mysterious ways,’ Jones said, laughing. ‘I’m glad to be back here and learning from a great group of guys, and that’s players and coaches. So, you go where you go in the draft, right? You don’t get a lot of choice over that, but I’m definitely excited to be here now,'” Nick Wagoner wrote for ESPN
Jones was Pro Bowler in 2021 with the Patriots, as he threw for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns and appeared set to be the team’s quarterback of the future. New England ended up completely ruining Jones’ development, though, and it prompted the team to dump him to Jacksonville, where he backed up Trevor Lawrence last season. In 10 games, Jones threw for 1,672 yards and eight touchdowns, but he also threw eight interceptions, as his struggles under center persisted.
The hope is that Jones latching on with Shanahan and the 49ers will help him get back on track, as this team does have a history of repairing broken quarterbacks. In a perfect world, Jones won’t play all that much for San Francisco, but if he can get back on the right developmental path, he could look to follow a similar career arc to the one that Sam Darnold has recently enjoyed.
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