Bleacher Report thinks Patriots end up benching Mac Jones in 2023

Bleacher Report published an article making one prediction for each NFL team for the remainder of the 2023 season, and they think that the Patriots bench Mac Jones. If the Patriots are wanting the highest possible pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, as silly as it might sound, keeping Mac Jones in the lineup might be the best decision.

He's a bad quarterback who occasionally shows signs of competence. Guys, he's in year three and I do think some people within the fanbase are evaluating him like a rookie QB. Well, he hasn't put enough together to show that he can be the face of the franchise, and the team is barreling toward a top-five pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Anyway, Bleacher Report made one bold prediction for each NFL team as we progress to the second half of the season, and for the Patriots, they predicted that the team benches Mac Jones. Here is their reasoning:

""And not just for some garbage-time situations, but for multiple starts. And not just because Jones continues to fall short of expectations, but also because he's simply lacking support. Eventually, Bill Belichick will realize that playing Jones is doing more harm than good. Then the question will be what Bailey Zappe has in him.""

- Brad Gagnon

I will concede on a point that Brad makes here-- the Patriots are lacking a bit of support on offense. Their skill players are good, at best, and they lack explosion at wide receiver and need more juice at running back. The offensive line has been up and down all year, and I do think the team could end up with two new tackles in 2024.

I don't totally fault Jones for the lack of success that the offense has had, but I do think he shoulders most of the blame. In the NFL, if a team doesn't have a legitimate QB, then they aren't going to win many games. The Patriots, at some point, should simply see what they have with Bailey Zappe. I get that he probably isn't going to show much more than Jones, but it can't hurt to see if he can at least stay around as a frisky QB2.

I do think benching Mac Jones probably happens at some point. The season is already lost, and benching Jones could even save the minimal amount of trade value he has. Jones not being in the lineup guarantees he doesn't play poorly, if you want to look at it that way.