Patriots insider thinks Belichick will take Brady approach with Mac Jones

The New England Patriots surprised a lot of fans when they decided to hold their ground in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

When the dust settled, they ended up with their supposed quarterback of the future in Mac Jones at No. 15 overall.

While Jones doesn’t have as high of an upside as some of the other QB prospects in this year’s class, we feel confident in saying he has the highest floor or lowest bust potential.

That’s got to count for something, right? Either way, Patriots fans have already started the countdown for when Jones will take over the starting job.

So, when will that be? It goes without saying that Cam Newton will enter training camp as the starter, but he’ll likely be on a short leash after his underwhelming 2020. With that in mind, it’ll presumably depend on Newton’s success, or lack thereof, to start the year.

If you asked Patriots insider Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, he’d tell you the same thing. In fact, he’d go as far as to say that once Jones takes over as QB1, he should keep the job unless he does something extraordinarily terrible to warrant being reverted back to the bench.

Patriots insider Tom Curran thinks Bill Belichick will take a Tom Brady-like approach with rookie Mac Jones.

This is exactly what Bill Belichick did with Tom Brady back in the day. If it worked for him in the past, there’s no reason to waver from that approach, right? In the simplest of terms, it would make zero sense to keep pulling Jones in and out of the starting lineup.

Not only would that mess with Jones’ psyche, but it would also send mixed signals to the rest of the roster, and nobody wants that. That isn’t to say that Belichick is capable of losing the locker room after he’s won six championships and been to nine Super Bowls, but making a firm decision on the starting quarterback will give everyone more confidence.

Curran also brings up a good point in referencing the Dolphins’ mystifying management of Tua Tagovailoa last season. For those unaware, Tua took over starting duties in Week 8, but Miami coached him with kid gloves, pulling him in favor of veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick in winnable games where the offense looked stagnant under Tagovailoa.

While the former No. 5 overall pick was seemingly unbothered by the Dolphins’ approach, the Patriots should play it safe and do the polar opposite with Jones. Though Miami finished with double-digit wins last year, the Pats forming a platoon with Jones and Newton would be fruitless and potentially detrimental considering the latter was only signed for $5.1 million.

Patriots: Catch first look at Mac Jones practicing with Pats teammates

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