How New England Patriots rookie QB Mac Jones has flipped the script

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

The odd man out now looks like the man with the plan. Mac Jones, the fifth quarterback taken in this year’s NFL Draft, has flipped the script, outperforming the four surefire signal-callers selected before him.

It is still early, of course, with much to be written in both this NFL campaign and, hopefully, the careers of Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Fields.

Yet right here, right now, heading into the New England Patriots’ Thursday night clash with the Atlanta Falcons (8:20 p.m. ET on FOX), it looks like Jones is shaping up to be the best value — and quite possibly the best player — among that highly touted crew of throwers.

Remember how wild things got before the draft? Everyone knew Lawrence was going No. 1, but the San Francisco 49ers threw a wrench into the mix with a blockbuster deal to move up to No. 3, and they eventually took Lance.

For a minute, there was talk that QBs could be selected with each of the top four picks, before the Falcons eventually took Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, and Jones had to sit and wait his turn, all the way to No. 15, before he was ushered to the stage to shake hands with commissioner Roger Goodell.

It had been widely assumed that Jones, not Lance, was the intended recipient of the 49ers’ faith, having won a national championship during his junior year at Alabama. As it was, he was a part of a vaunted QB class but very much the guy left trailing at the end of the pack.

Not now.

Sure, Jones has probably landed in the best situation of any of the new QBs, but he has also made the most of his opportunity with admirable style. Bill Belichick and the Patriots saw enough in camp to release veteran Cam Newton, and after a couple of narrow losses in slipping to 2-4, New England has reeled off four straight and is nipping at the heels of the Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC East.

No performance was better than New England’s 45-7 rout of the Cleveland Browns this past weekend. Jones looked poised, assured and filled with confidence while leading drives of 99 and 92 yards and tossing three touchdowns.

"Jones was brilliant," Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel wrote. "Accurate. Commanding. Patient when needed, aggressive when possible. He controlled the offense. He looked off cornerbacks. He threw bullets and soft fades."

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say it is easier to be a fan (or a columnist) than it is to be a talent evaluator in the NFL. However, it is difficult to shake the nagging sense that there are times when certain front offices overthink things when it comes to elite QBs coming out of college.

For all the appropriate focus given to Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver DeVonta Smith at Alabama, Jones was as close to perfect as one can be, leading the Crimson Tide to 14-0, setting NCAA records for passing and completions, and averaging nearly 50 points per game.

If he crept up on you, you weren’t looking hard enough.

The second-guessing is in full flow now. Wilson suffered a knee injury in Week 6, and flavor-of-the-month Mike White’s stock fell drastically the past two weeks. Lance is a work in progress who has shown some positive signs. Fields has been electrifying on occasion but has endured struggles, too. Lawrence has shown glimpses on a poor team with a rookie NFL coach.

None has displayed what Jones has, and none of their teams has the dangerous look of the Patriots, with Belichick licking his lips in Foxborough, where a stacked offensive line and a resurgent defense have turned his squad into a team no one wants to play.

Forget for a second the teams that decided they were going to get a QB in the draft and went for someone other than Jones. What about the ones that plumped for other positional options? The Falcons will need Matt Ryan’s replacement sooner or later, a fact highlighted by Sunday’s shellacking at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.

The Miami Dolphins opted against a QB with pick No. 6 and then spent months trying to wrangle Deshaun Watson out of Houston. The Detroit Lions are 0-8-1 after swapping Matt Stafford for Jared Goff, the Carolina Panthers brought back Newton when Sam Darnold didn’t work out, the Denver Broncos have had mixed results from Teddy Bridgewater, and the Philadelphia Eagles have Jalen Hurts under center, for now.

Jones, meanwhile, is rolling along. He said he wasn’t going to worry about the hype, and it’s an ethos that has served him well so far, especially in Belichick’s no-nonsense locker room. New England is a six-point favorite Thursday, via FOX Bet.

"You can’t worry about external factors," Jones said. "You just have to focus on ‘here is what I’m supposed to do.’"

Whatever he’s doing so far, it’s working spectacularly.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.