Where did things go wrong for the Patriots and Mac Jones?

The writing was already on the wall, but it has now become official: Mac Jones’ stint as quarterback of the New England Patriots is over. The former first-round draft pick, who lost his starting position during a disastrous 2023 season, was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars in return for a sixth-round draft pick.

The move put an end to one of the more disappointing stories in recent franchise history, and begs the question: What happened? Where did things go wrong for the formerly promising passer and a team seemingly committed to building around him?

Spoiler alert, there are no clear answers to those questions. That said, a look at the timeline between Jones’ arrival and his departure illustrates how the Patriots-Jones partnership went from fruitful to broken in just three short years.

2021: Hope

April 29: Mac Jones is selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. The fifth passer off the board at No. 15 overall, Jones brings the Nick Saban stamp of approval to New England — something head coach Bill Belichick puts a lot of stock in. Jones becomes the first QB drafted by the Patriots in Round 1 since Belichick’s arrival in 2000.

August 24: Having spent virtually all of spring and training camp as the No. 2 quarterback behind incumbent Cam Newton, Jones is elevated to the top spot in rather surprising fashion: Newton is forced to miss time after returning from a team-approved medical appointment. Unvaccinated against Covid-19, he has to go through a five-day reentry period.

August 31: After Jones saw considerable action in joint practices with the New York Giants, the Patriots make the decision to install him as their new starter. Cam Newton is cut, and Jones officially handed the keys to the offense.

September 12: Mac Jones’ first game as the Patriots’ QB1 sees him complete 74.4 percent of his passes for 281 yards and a touchdown in the season opener versus the visiting Miami Dolphins. New England loses 17-16 to its division rivals in part due to a Damien Harris fumble on what might have been the game-winning drive, but there is plenty to feel good about.

November 7: For the first time in Mac Jones’ tenure, the Patriots move above .500 when they beat the Carolina Panthers 24-6 to improve to 5-4 on the year. However, controversy follows Jones after the game: the rookie twisted Panthers edge Brian Burns’ ankle on a tackle attempt following a lost fumble, leaving Burns injured. Malicious intent or not, questions about Jones as a “dirty player” start to emerge.

November 14: Despite his character being questioned in the week leading up to the game, Jones plays arguably his best game of the season against the Cleveland Browns. Going 19-of-23 for 198 yards with three touchdowns, he helps his team score 45 points against a team having given up just 21 on average over the first nine weeks of the season.

December 6: The Patriots travel to windy Orchard Park to take on the Buffalo Bill with AFC East supremacy on the line. Unable to stop New England’s ground game, Buffalo loses 14-10 in a game that sees Mac Jones attempt just three passes all night.

December 18/December 26: Coming out of the bye week, Jones plays one of his worst games to date. The Patriots lose 27-17 to the Indianapolis Colts in part due to his two interceptions putting them in an early hole. Eight days later, he completes only 43.8 percent of his throws with no touchdowns and two picks in a 33-21 loss to the Bills.

January 15: The Bills and Patriots meet for a third time in the wild card playoff round. A pair of early Jones interceptions sets the stage for a 47-17 blowout that sees New England’s defense falter against Buffalo’s high-flying offense. Despite the disappointing loss, the arrow appears to be pointing up.

2022: Change

January 31: Two weeks after the Patriots’ wild card loss to the Bills, long-time offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels leaves to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach. He takes assistant coaches Bo Hardegree (quality control/quarterbacks), Carmen Bricillo (offensive line) and Mick Lombardi (wide receivers) with him, among others.

March 17: The Patriots’ offensive line loses both its 2021 starting guards: Shaq Mason is traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Ted Karras signing a free agency deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. In both cases, New England was in a position to keep the veterans around but opted against doing so.

April 5: Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker is acquired via trade from the Dolphins. The former first-round draft pick is supposed to bolster the quality on the offensive perimeter.

April 18: New England starts its offseason program without officially having replaced Josh McDaniels. The team introduces a “collaborative effort” that is spear-headed by Matt Patricia and Joe Judge: the former defensive and special teams coordinators, respectively, are tasked with simplifying the Patriots offense in hopes of making life easier for both Jones and his supporting cast. More downfield passing and the implementation of more zone blocking are part of that change.

April 28: After trading down in the first round of the draft, the Patriots select guard Cole Strange out of Chattanooga. Strange was projected as a late second- or early-third round pick on most draft boards, but New England did not feel comfortable waiting around until Day 2 to get him. He and Michael Onwenu were made the starting guards in lieu of Ted Karras and Shaq Mason.

April 29: Trying to add speed and dynamic playmaking to their offensive operation, the Patriots trade up in the second round to draft Baylor wide receiver Tyquan Thornton.

April 30: One year after drafting Mac Jones in the first round, the Patriots add Bailey Zappe out of Western Kentucky in the fourth. Zappe joins the team with the hopes of becoming either a long-term backup option or potential trade asset at one point.

June 7: The Patriots start their mandatory minicamp with a change at offensive tackle. Trent Brown moved from the right to the left spot, with Isaiah Wynn — who had sat out the voluntary offseason program — moving in the opposite direction.

August 11: Former Patriots receiving back James White ends his NFL career. White had been a safety blanket for New England quarterbacks ever since his emergence in 2015, but a season-ending hip injury suffered the previous September put him on the path to retirement.

July 28: The second day of Patriots training camp sees the new-look offense and its quarterback struggle. Jones goes just 1-of-7 with four overthrows in 11-on-11 red zone work. A sign of things to come for the unit.

September 25: After a so-and-so start the previous two weeks, Jones’ third game of the season is a wild ride. He confidently pushes the ball down the field for the first time all year, completing 68.8 percent of his throws for 321 yards. However, he also tosses three interceptions and to make matters worse suffers a high-ankle sprain on the final offensive play of the game.

October 2/October 9/October 16: Brian Hoyer and Bailey Zappe move up the depth chart with Jones injured. Hoyer suffers a concussion in the first quarter of Week 4, leading to the rookie Zappe taking over and leading New England’s offense for the subsequent 11 quarters. Zappe completes 51 of 70 passes for 596 yards with four TDs and one INT. New England wins both of his starts.

October 24: Jones returns for a Monday night meeting with the Chicago Bears but doesn’t look good. He completes just three of six passes for 13 yards before being pulled after an interception. Bailey Zappe entered the game in his place, led two quick touchdown drives, but ultimately ran out of gas en route to a 33-14 home loss.

October 30: Jones is back in the starting lineup for a 22-17 win over the New York Jets. He plays 100 percent of offensive snaps from that point on.

December 1: A hot mic catches Jones on the sideline of the Patriots’ 24-10 loss to the Bills complaining about the offensive attack. “Throw the f--king ball,” he was caught shouting toward play caller Matt Patricia. “F--king quick game sucks!” Also, Conor McDermott becomes the fourth and final starter of the season at right tackle.

December 18: With the game against Josh McDaniels’ Raiders tied at 24, two of Jones’ teammates — Rhamondre Stevenson and Jakobi Meyers — make a pair of ill-fated laterals that lead to the offense gifting the ball to the defense for the game-ending score. Jones was stiff-armed to the ground while trying to keep Las Vegas defender Chandler Jones from reaching the end zone.

December 24: The Patriots mount a spirited comeback against one of the AFC’s top teams, the Cincinnati Bengals, but fall short 22-18. Jones has one of his best games of the season — going 21-of-33 for 240 yards and a pair of touchdowns — but his demeanor is questioned once more following the game: he had thrown a questionable block on a fumble return (that later came back) and was flagged for unnecessary roughness for pulling a player from a pile.

January 8: After throwing just one interception in his previous eight games, Jones has three in a loss to the Buffalo Bills. The 35-23 defeat drops the Patriots to 8-9 on the year and officially ends their hopes of making the playoffs.

2023: Collapse

January 16: Eight days after the Patriots’ season ended, rumors about a disagreement between Mac Jones and Bill Belichick emerge. With the offense struggling for much of 2022, Jones apparently had sought outside counsel — a move that was not well-received by his head coach.

January 26: The Patriots make it three lead offensive coaches in three years: Bill O’Brien is hired as the team’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Belichick had considered keeping the previous coaching setup in place, but eventually decided to bring his ex-assistant back into the fold to give Jones an experienced offensive mind to work with.

March 14: New England’s most productive wide receiver of the last three years, Jakobi Meyers, jumps ship to join the Raiders. He signs a three-year, $33 million contract with $16 million in guarantees. He will go on to catch 71 passes for 807 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023.

March 15: One day after Meyers’ departure, the Patriots sign JuJu Smith-Schuster to a three-year, $25.5 million contract with $16 million in guarantees. He will go on to catch 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown in 2023.

March 14/March 15: The Meyers/Smith-Schuster swap dominates headlines, but the Patriots also sign a pair of veteran offensive tackles to help solidify what appears to be their weakest spot on offense: they sign Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff to two- and one-year contracts, respectively. Due to illness and injury, Anderson and Reiff will combine to play 199 regular season snaps and not see the field at all over the final two months.

March 16: Veteran Brian Hoyer, who had served as a mentor for Jones since he entered the league, is released.

April 29: After not spending any of their picks in the first three rounds on offense, the Patriots select three linemen and a pair of wide receivers on Day 3 of the draft. One of them, fourth-rounder Sidy Sow, will end the season as New England’s starting right guard.

August 27: The Patriots swing a pair of trades to bolster their suspect offensive tackle depth. Neither Vederian Lowe nor Tyrone Wheatley Jr. will prove to be long-term options at right tackle, with New England eventually turning to right guard Michael Onwenu to hold down the fort at the position.

August 29: Following roster cutdowns, Mac Jones is the only quarterback on the 53-man roster. Waiver wire pickup Matt Corral later joins him, albeit briefly, while Bailey Zappe starts the year on the practice squad.

September 10: Jones throws a career-high 54 passes in an opening day loss to the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. He completes 35 of them for 316 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, but he and the team fall short of completing a miraculous comeback under the watchful eye of long-time starting QB Tom Brady.

October 1: Jones has three turnovers, including two returned for touchdowns, in a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys that raises serious questions about his ability to serve as an NFL starting quarterback. His supporting cast does him few favors, but he himself also struggles with seeing the field and making smart decisions with the football. Jones eventually gets pulled from the game late in favor of Zappe.

October 8: What was billed a pivotal game in the Mac Jones era turned into another blowout loss. The Patriots lose 34-0 and the third-year QB throws two more interceptions with one pick-six. For a second-straight week, Jones is headed to the bench in the third quarter.

October 22: The 1-5 Patriots upset the 4-2 Bills thanks to Jones engineering a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. The 29-25 victory is the second fourth-quarter comeback of Jones’ career, and first since his rookie campaign.

November 12: New England’s first game in Germany is a defensive affair that sees the designated home team possibly march for a pivotal touchdown late in the fourth quarter. However, Jones throws an ugly red zone interception off his back foot to essentially lose the game and his hold on the starting job: he is not on the field for the Patriots’ final possession, once more getting benched in favor of Bailey Zappe (who goes on to throw a pick himself).

November 26: In what turns out to be Jones’ final game in a Patriots uniform, he throws two first-half interceptions before getting pulled at intermission. The following week, Bailey Zappe is prepared as the starter.

January 7: After spending the previous five games as the backup behind Bailey Zappe, Jones is demoted to the No. 3 position for the season finale against the New York Jets. A game-day inactive, the former first-round draft pick serves as emergency QB behind Zappe and in-season waiver wire pickup Nathan Rourke.

Ten days after he last put on a Patriots uniform, Jones was one of the players in attendance for Jerod Mayo’s introductory press conference as the team’s new head coach. Despite a change in leadership, however, the organization and its former first-round investment had reached a point of no return: Jones was made available for trade, and indeed shipped to Jacksonville — his hometown team — on Sunday.

As can be seen, there is no single moment that led to the two parties drifting apart. Instead, both the Patriots and Jones have to share the blame for what transpired: the team’s roster construction and coaching carousel did not do any favors to a player who entered the league with limitations that eventually led to his undoing.

Where both move from here remains to be seen.