Insider squashes rumors about Patriots trading Mac Jones this offseason

It appears the New England Patriots plan to hold onto quarterback Mac Jones through at least the spring and summer months. 

According to Darren Hartwell of NBC Sports Boston, Patriots insider Tom E. Curran emphatically squashed any rumors about the Patriots possibly shopping Jones during an appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show." 

"Absolutely, positively not," Curran said. "That would happen over (team owner) Robert Kraft's dead body. We'll talk about that in 2024 if it's another mediocre season, but this notion that the Patriots would move on from Mac Jones after last July at the outset of training camp, when (head coach) Bill Belichick talked about Mac Jones making drastic improvements from an already highly-impressive rookie year...if they now want to move on from him and his ($4.25 million) salary because of what happened in 2022? Well, who's holding the smoking gun for what happened? The coach!" 

Jones reportedly landed in Belichick's doghouse this past season while attempting to repair the club's struggling offense that failed to repeatedly achieve success under assistant coaches Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. Belichick has since hired Bill O'Brien as his new offensive coordinator, presumably in an attempt to get Jones back on track this year. 

Some nevertheless have linked Jones in rumors and stories with the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders parted ways with Derek Carr and have Josh McDaniels, Jones' former offensive coordinator in New England, serving as their head coach. 

However, Kraft publicly spoke highly of Jones last March. Curran suggested that Kraft would blame Belichick and not Jones for all that allegedly went wrong between the two during the signal-caller's sophomore pro campaign. 

"I think that any speculation that Mac Jones would be trade bait or considered a trade object in 2023 is stupid," Curran continued during the segment. "Next year might be a different story with him entering the final year of his contract, whether or not the Patriots pick up his fifth-year option. But this year? Absolutely not." 

Jones' trade value is lower than it was last February, he remains on an inexpensive rookie contract, and the Patriots probably can't acquire a proven Most Valuable Player such as Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens or Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers in return for Jones' services. Thus, it's understandable that Curran believes the 2021 first-round draft pick isn't going anywhere anytime soon.