Five New England Patriots Who Won't Be Back in 2024

Mac Jones

Last year was supposed to be the season Mac Jones took the leap and became the heir to Tom Brady's throne. OK, maybe the expectations weren't quite that high, but everybody assumed Jones would take a step forward after losing his sophomore season to the hubris of Belichick, who put him under the tutelage of a former defensive coordinator and special teams coach. Instead everything went horrifically wrong in so many ways. Jones completed 64 percent of his passes and threw 10 touchdowns along with 12 interceptions for 2,120 yards. He got 11 starts before being benched, and by that point his confidence was clearly shot (to say the least).

In fairness to Jones, he was not set up to succeed, even after Belichick replaced Matt Patricia and Joe Judge with Bill O'Brien. The Patriots' receiving room was still one of the worst in the league by a long shot, and the offensive line was a disaster until halfway through the year. But bad personnel and icy glares from Belichick are not what caused him to throw the worst-looking interceptions out of any quarterback who took the field this season. Even with Mayo in charge it feels like there's no coming back from the season he had. Jones is done in New England. The Pats will seek to trade him between now and training camp, and they'll be lucky to recoup a Day 3 pick out of their former first-rounder.