New England Patriots: Mac Jones has to be more than a Tom Brady replica
If it wasn’t for the greatness of Tom Brady leading the New England Patriots over the past two decades, perhaps Mac Jones would just sound like any other young quarterback trying to establish himself in the league. But, in everything he does and says, there will always be a comparison to the 7-time Super Bowl champion.
This will be a challenge for Jones throughout his NFL career or at least until he leads his own dynasty. But somehow, he must become more than just a replica of Brady. I mean, most Patriots fans hope he is exactly that, but Jones needs to establish his own legacy and Year 2 of his NFL career is a good way to start.
In a way, the Alabama product can thrive on success in New England. He has a coach in Bill Belichick who was influential in the start of Brady’s career, and he has the cerebral tools to be consistently a top 10 quarterback in the NFL, especially if he continues to get stronger and more athletic physically.
New England Patriots need a more self-aware, athletic Mac Jones
No, he won’t suddenly morph into Josh Allen, but training and focusing on his nutrition will help his body adjust to the physicality of the NFL. This is where he sounds like Tom Brady.
"“Yeah, I think every year you want to be like a self-diagnosis of how you felt for the games, your body fat and all that stuff,” Jones said what changes he made physically this offseason, via Patriots.com. “For me, it was just cleaning up my diet and I’ve learned more this offseason than I probably ever have about nutrition, sleep, wellness, all that stuff. I’m kind of taking what I’ve learned that I feel will help me, and apply it, and obviously listening to Ted and everybody, just following their plan, eating healthy, taking out a lot of the things that are bad for my diet but, at the same time, I need to maintain my weight and be able to take hits, so there’s a fine balance for every player, every player’s different and for me I’ve definitely trimmed down on the body fat a little bit and I’ll get a chance to bulk back up before the season starts and be able to absorb the hits.”"
Now, if Mac Jones starts eating Avocado Ice Cream, New England Patriots fans may start experiencing a little déjà vu. All jokes aside, a trimmed down version of Jones should help him get better with his footwork in the pocket and improve his arm strength, which like Brady early in his career, has been magnified and ridiculed.
That appears to be Mac’s focus this offseason and moving into Year 2 of his NFL career which bolds well for the New England Patriots as their will be more pressure on the offense to carry the team in 2022 at least until the defense finds itself.
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While the intermediate passing game should benefit Mac Jones, it is the explosive plays downfield that will turn heads and turn non-believers into believers. That is something Brady had to do early in his career. But we are trying not to compare Jones and Brady, right?
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It’s hard to do with the imprint Brady has left in this region, but like Steve Young had to do following in the shoes of Joe Montana or Aaron Rodgers stepping in after Brett Farve, the challenge for Mac Jones is imprinting his own success in Foxborough, and that includes establishing his own voice as the leader of the offense and the players around him.