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Pat McAfee Makes a Bold Claim Comparing Mac Jones and Mason Rudolph, Amidst Kyle Shanahan and Patriots’ QB’s Rumors

Published 03/06/2024, 7:47 PM EST

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The New England Patriots have undoubtedly had one of the worst seasons in the NFL 2023. That might be because of a lot of reasons. Ever since Tom Brady left the Pats, things haven’t been the same for the New England side. Mac Jones was drafted as Brady’s potential replacement in the 2023 draft, but the team seemed to have gotten the shorter end of the stick.

Mac Jones has put up subpar numbers ever since he joined the Patriots and now, the team might be in search of a new QB. Pat McAfee had an interesting take on the situation, and he still believes that Mac Jones can turn things around. He used an unusual Mason Rudolph anecdote to make Mac Jones’ situation look more optimistic.

Pat McAfee thinks that Mac Jones can pull a Mason Rudolph amidst troubling times

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The conversation was sparked when Pat McAfee played an excerpt from the latest episode of the DNVR podcast. In the video, the host said that Kyle Shanahan would have one more Super Bowl if he had Mac Jones to play for him. This got the hosts of the show to chuckle a little bit. However, Pat McAfee was optimistic and still thought that there was a chance Mac Jones could reinvent the Patriots.

McAfee talked about how Mason Rudolph signed with the Steelers back in 2019 and took an injury against the Cleveland Browns in a TNF game. This injury slightly derailed Rudolph and people lost trust in him. The Steelers fans were not comfortable with the idea of Rudolph being their QB1. Come the last leg of the 2023 season, Mason Rudolph took over in the absence of Kenny Pickett and absolutely shelled the opposition.

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It was pointed out by Kyle Shanahan earlier that he was interested in Mac Jones and Trey Lance. But the Niners gave up Mac Jones and hired Trey Lance, giving up Jimmy Garoppolo.

“We did the trade so early that it made me feel good about it. I knew before we did it how I felt about the quarterbacks and how good we would be to take them at 12. There were two that I really wanted… Mac Jones and Trey [Lance]. Those were the two guys that we were locked in on from the beginning.” mentioned Shanahan in I Am Athlete podcast.

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Thus, McAfee believes that Mac Jones has it in him to turn the Patriots franchise around this season. Earlier, Jones had to deal with multiple offensive coaches and wasn’t really stable. This was around the time when the Patriots fired Matt Patricia. But what if Mac Jones doesn’t have enough time to prove himself to the New England Patriots? Or maybe it’s the Patriots who have a real problem to deal with.

How the New England Patriots sabotaged themselves

The problem is, the Pats changed 4 offensive coaches in 4 years. This move never really gave Mac Jones a chance to settle and figure out how to run the offense. The offensive schemes kept changing and Jones couldn’t do much about it. And just like Mason Rudolph, the Pats QB was buried in slander.

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Bleacher Report pointed out that the Patriots are in the market for a new franchise QB after attempts to institutionalize Mac Jones failed. The article quotes that Jones will “certainly” leave the Patriots this off-season. The Patriots have the No. 3 draft pick and according to speculations, the Pats would be looking to draft Jayden Daniels.

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However, people around Daniels don’t want him to join the Patriots because of the cold weather at Foxborough. What do you think the Patriots will do next?

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Written by:

Abhinav Prakash

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Abhinav Prakash is an NFL Writer at EssentiallySports. He covers several aspects of the game, more specifically core sports events. Abhinav has also covered Taylor Swift in great detail, apart from these stalwarts.
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Edited by:

Aazima Basharat