Mac Jones

The New England Patriots signed Mac Jones to his rookie contract on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Field Yates. 

The four-year deal is projected to pay him a total of $15.6 million, with the Pats holding a fifth-year option on the contract. 

One of the biggest storylines heading into the draft was where Jones would come off the board, with rumors that he would go No. 3 overall to the San Francisco 49ers. But the Niners went with Trey Lance instead, and Jones fell all the way to No. 15 and into the waiting arms of Bill Belichick. He was the fifth quarterback off the board behind Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Lance and Justin Fields. 

In New England, the 22-year-old will have the opportunity to compete for the starting gig immediately with last year's starter, Cam Newton. 

As for what the Patriots are getting in Jones, the NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah called him a "high-effort thrower, with slightly above-average arm strength. He's at his best on touch throws, where he can anticipate and place the ball on the proper shoulder of his target. He shows toughness to hang in versus pressure, although he rarely faced it with an elite offensive line protecting him."

He added that the Alabama product "should become a starting NFL quarterback, but his lack of twitch and athleticism will limit the playbook with the way the game is trending."

Granted, the Patriots had a pretty good run with a similarly unathletic quarterback in Tom Brady. But the veteran is also arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game given his ability to quickly process coverages and release the ball, his pocket presence and his incredible mind for the game. Frankly, his only real weakness as a quarterback is that lack of athleticism, and comparing Jones to him is simply unfair. 

Jones may be the future of the position in New England, but he has a lot to prove before that's the case, or before he can even be considered a true replacement for Brady.

How many starting quarterback jobs are up for grabs entering NFL training camps? That's up for debate, but we do know that at least three teams—the Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints and Washington Football Team—haven't publicly stated they've got a starter locked in. 

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers have made declarations about veterans slated to serve as starters, but Andy Dalton, Cam Newton and Jimmy Garoppolo are likely to have rookie first-round picks breathing down their necks in each of those spots. 

With training camps now on the horizon, let's make some predictions regarding each of those six potential or inevitable battles. 

     

Chicago Bears: Andy Dalton vs. Justin Fields

Despite the fact that they traded up to select Justin Fields 11th overall in April's draft, the Bears continue to insist they're rolling with Dalton.

On the surface, that seems ludicrous because, at 33, Dalton is a backup-caliber player with an 84.8 passer rating the last four seasons, and Fields looks ready to rock coming out of Ohio State. But consider a few factors: 

1. The Bears didn't immediately start No. 2 overall selection Mitchell Trubisky in 2017.

2. Matt Nagy's Kansas City Chiefs didn't immediately play No. 10 overall pick Patrick Mahomes that same year. 

3. Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace might figure they can buy themselves more time from an employment standpoint if they slow-play the transition to Fields. 

4. Critically, the Bears open the regular season with a prime-time road game against reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and the fierce Los Angeles Rams.

I don't believe they'll want to throw Fields to those wolves, so they'll likely hold off for early September, let Dalton bomb against the Rams in Week 1 and then finally succumb to the pressure and start Fields in a low-pressure spot in Week 2 at home against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Winner: Dalton, but not for long

     

Denver Broncos: Teddy Bridgewater vs. Drew Lock

It's possible a trade for Aaron Rodgers or Deshaun Watson could bring a sudden end to this battle, but for now we can only focus on who's on the roster. 

Bridgewater is the safe choice with lots of starting experience and a reputation for making smart decisions, but that's also the boring choice because his ceiling is clearly defined, and he might lack the game-changing ability you want in a starting quarterback. 

Lock is on the other end of the spectrum. He's got the arm talent but hasn't proved to be trustworthy after posting the highest interception rate in the AFC as sophomore in 2020. 

The trade for Bridgewater indicates the front office is losing patience with Lock, but the reality is it's a lot easier to conceal gunslinger-related flaws when the sample size is relatively small and tainted by a lot of snaps against second- and third-teamers during training camp and the preseason. 

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio told the media last month this is a coin flip, but I get the feeling they'll gamble first on Lock's potential by giving him one last shot. 

Winner: Lock, with a short leash

          

New England Patriots: Cam Newton vs. Mac Jones

This one's particularly complicated since we've never seen Bill Belichick with a rookie first-round pick at the quarterback position. Because the Pats appear to be all-in for a Super Bowl run and a rookie quarterback has never won a championship as a starter, you might expect Belichick to take the safer route with the former MVP, especially considering he said in June that Newton is "way ahead of where he was" during the 2020 offseason. 

He also told the media on draft night that "Cam's our quarterback."

However, Newton struggled so much as a passer in 2020 and has been so ineffective and untrustworthy the last few years that it's easy to wonder if he might actually represent the larger risk than the pro-ready Jones coming out of the SEC. For what it's worth, Jeff Howe of The Athletic reported last week that Jones took more first-team reps than Newton at at least one minicamp practice and "was the best QB on the field" in consecutive sessions.

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer believes the No. 15 overall selection "has done enough in the spring to merit a real competition with Cam Newton in the summer." And I keep thinking that it would be odd for Belichick to throw away a first-round pick in an all-in year on a player who won't make a difference during said season. 

Let's go out on a limb.

Winner: Jones

          

New Orleans Saints: Jameis Winston vs. Taysom Hill

On the surface, you'd think the 2015 No. 1 overall pick and 2019 league passing yardage leader would have the advantage over a gadget player with extremely limited passing experience like Hill in this spot, but Sean Payton has shown us time and again that he loves Hill. 

Hill also put up solid numbers in a short run as a starter in place of an injured Drew Brees in 2020, but the reality is Winston's ceiling is way higher, and he's actually three-and-a-half years younger than Hill.

DraftKings gives him a pretty clear edge in terms of odds (Winston is -175; bet $175 to win $100), and I'm inclined to agree with them for now. Payton would be silly not to at least see if the 2015 Pro Bowler can finally put it all together with more support than he's ever had.

Barring a disastrous August, Winston should get the nod Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. That said, I'd expect to see plenty of both players throughout the season. 

Winner: Winston

     

San Francisco 49ers: Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Trey Lance

The 49ers didn't keep Garoppolo around at a rate of $26.4 million to be a backup, which is one reason the odds are stacked against Lance starting from the get-go in 2021. The 49ers have stated publicly that Jimmy G is the starter, and Lance likely needs that time because he threw just 318 passes in college (none of which came at the FBS level and only 30 came in 2020). 

But I'm really starting to wonder about Lance. 

In May, Touchdown Wire's Mark Schofield wrote that the North Dakota State product "might start for the 49ers sooner than you think." And in June, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports stated that the 21-year-old "will be given every opportunity to rise up the team's depth chart." The early returns have been promising, and it's important to keep in mind that the 49ers can save nearly $25 million by picking Lance and dumping Garoppolo. 

Come September, if they feel they're going to hand it over to Lance in a matter of weeks anyway, it probably makes sense to just make the move immediately and pocket all of that cash. Let's test another limb.

Winner: Lance, and Garoppolo is traded or released

         

Washington Football Team: Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Taylor Heinicke vs. Kyle Allen

This is the ugliest camp battle, so much so that DraftKings doesn't even have odds listed despite the fact the team hasn't crowned anybody. The edge naturally belongs to Fitzpatrick because he signed a $10 million contract this offseason, but it's hard to imagine the brass is rooting for a 38-year-old journeyman who has never started a playoff game. 

Head coach Ron Rivera has spent plenty of time with both Heinicke and Allen in Carolina and Washington. Neither look like future stars, but Heinicke performed quite impressively in a playoff start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January, and Allen had some nice moments while starting in place of an injured Newton with the Carolina Panthers in 2019. 

The former is 28, the latter is 25. There's still some potential there. 

Still, Fitzpatrick is the safer option for a team that might just want to avoid a mess on offense while the defense takes care of business. Because they paid him handsomely this offseason, I figure they still roll with him early. But he's been extremely inconsistent throughout his career so expect multiple quarterbacks to start multiple games for the WFT in 2021. 

Winner: Fitzpatrick, but he won't hold on

         

Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.   

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow him on Twitter: @Brad_Gagnon.

      

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Cam Newton's job may be in jeopardy, but the New England Patriots quarterback isn't mad about the team's decision to draft quarterback Mac Jones at No. 15 overall this year.

The former Carolina Panther told reporters Tuesday that he understood why the Patriots added Jones, even after Newton re-signed with the team on a one-year deal a month before the draft.

"He was the right pick, in my opinion," Newton said. "He was the best player available, and that's what the NFL draft is for."

He also praised Jones from a personality perspective: 

More from Newton on Jones: "From a leadership perspective, he's holding himself accountable, and that's all you can ask from a young player."

— Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) June 15, 2021

Newton, who suffered a bone bruise in his hand in OTAs on June 4, was in action alongside Jones for the first day of minicamp on Monday. The consensus among reporters after that outing, where Jones had one more completion than Newton, was that the rookie impressed. 

On Tuesday, things seemed to be the same: 

Big storyline from today was the sizable increase in reps Mac Jones saw. Cam Newton continued to lead off, but Jones attempted the most passes in team drills.

QB stats:
Jones: 17 of 25 (9 of 13 in 11s)
Newton: 9 of 17 (5 of 9)
Stidham: 5 of 8 (3 of 5)
Hoyer: none

— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) June 15, 2021

It’s still way too early to predict the outcome of the QB battle. Padded practices and preseason will be paramount. But the past week shows me Mac Jones absolutely has a chance to win the job later this summer.

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) June 15, 2021

Mac Jones was the best QB (again) but struggled a bit during the final competitive team period (2 INTs). It happens as a rookie first-rounder at minicamp.

Jones still clearly outplayed Newton, who couldn’t get much going all afternoon, and Stidham, who didn’t see many reps.

— Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) June 15, 2021

When the team drafted Jones at the end of April, head coach Bill Belichick maintained that Newton would be the starter over the Alabama product, who led the Crimson Tide to a perfect season and threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns along the way.

But the early workouts could suggest that a change of course may be in the cards for New England. Looking to Newton when longtime quarterback Tom Brady departed for Tampa Bay, the Patriots missed the postseason for the first time since 2008. They tied for last in the league with 12 passing touchdowns. 

Newton made 15 starts, finishing with 2,657 yards, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions to go with 592 rushing yards and 12 rushing scores.

Belichick, per usual, hasn't revealed too much about his thoughts on the quarterback situation thus far. He told reporters Tuesday he though Jones was "learning quickly and working hard at it," and acknowledged that Newton is "way ahead of where he was last year." 

As for Jarrett Stidham, the team's fourth-round pick in 2019 who has appeared in eight games (and never started), it seems like he'll be on the back burner yet again. 

New England Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones knows there are going to be some growing pains at the NFL level.

Mike Reiss of ESPN noted the Alabama product worked behind Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at Thursday's practice even though presumed starter Cam Newton was sidelined by a hand injury.

Reiss also shared some of Jones' comments:

It's not going to be perfect every day. It's hard when you're competitive and you want it to be really good every day. It's not going to be like that at first. Eventually you get it and things start rolling your way. I think it just goes back to following my rules and there's a lot going on in my brain. You're just trying to seeing everything. Sometimes you see too much or whatever. And then you see nothing. So I have to figure out, in this offense, how I can do that—how I can break down the plays, what's my job, what do I have to do on this specific play, and then slot the plays individually.

I did that obviously good in college, or whatever, but this is the pros and I have to figure out how to do it here.

Jones also acknowledged that the veterans are more accustomed to NFL speed at this point.

"They can do it really fast," Jones said. "My goal is to hopefully be able to do it even faster every day and I've tried to do that. It's kind of like second nature for them. I have to figure out how to do it fast and execute the plays really fast to a level in a new offense."

The rookie is no stranger to starting lower on the depth chart and eventually working his way up.

He began his collegiate career behind Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa but was one of the most dominant players in the country in 2020 as a Heisman Trophy finalist who led the Crimson Tide to the national championship.

He completed a head-turning 77.4 percent of his passes for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions while taking advantage of the plethora of talented playmakers around him in Alabama's offense.

While Jones may not start as a rookie, he will likely find himself under center at some point for the Patriots after they selected him with the No. 15 overall pick.

How much knowledge he picks up early in his career will likely help determine his overall success.