Mac Jones could become massive trade target at deadline

The Jacksonville Jaguars traded a sixth-round pick to the New England patriots for Mac Jones in March, surprising many who saw it as a shoulder-shrug of a move for the big gats from Duval County.

Jones quickly flamed out in New England after a Pro Bowl rookie season in 2021. In 2022 and 2023, Jones played hot potato with the starting quarterback job with Bailey Zappe, throwing 24 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in that span.

Jones seemed to find a piece of his game from his Alabama days in Week 2 of the preseason, going 16-of-23 for 210 yards and two touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now, of course people will overreact to this - that's what the preseason is for, after all. One good performance doesn't undo two bad years of play from Jones. And yes, there are built in excuses that are valid contributions to his struggle. Bill Belichick, Joe Judge, and Matt Patricia all stunted whatever growth Jones was capable of. However, he made plenty of his own mistakes.

That said, it wouldn't be the first time fiery performances in the preseason led to a quarterback getting traded for draft compensation. Look back at Teddy Bridgewater in 2018 when he was a Jet (yeah, I bet you didn't remember Teddy with the Jets). He was traded to the Saints, started some games when Drew Brees missed time with injury, and played well.

Teams also get desperate. Oddly enough, this example also involves Teddy Bridgewater.

Bridgewater tore his ACL in training camp in 2016, so the Vikings traded a first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Sam Bradford. The Eagles felt comfortable enough to do this because A: it was a first-round pick in exchange for Sam Bradford. And B: they had just drafted Carson Wentz and were ready to give him the keys.

The San Francisco 49ers made a trade at the deadline for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2017. The 49ers sent a second-round pick to the New England Patriots.

The latter example is the one in which I would expect Jones to get dealt. If you're a team like the Las Vegas Raiders and neither Gardner Minshew nor Aidan O'Connell show you anything notable (which is the most likely possibility), could they send a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars for Mac Jones? Absolutely. You could say the same thing about the Denver Broncos is Bo Nix doesn't show them anything.

Don't be surprised to see Jones on the move before the end of this season, especially with how important the quarterback position is, how desperate teams can get, and how easily some teams can be fooled.