New England Patriots Rumors: A Mac Jones for Trey Lance trade not ideal

There is never a dull moment with the New England Patriots and the current quarterback situation is certainly no exception. With Mac Jones going outside the Foxborough cloister to seek advice last season in the headlines, his future with the team has been called into question.

Jones violated what seems a “cardinal rule” in Foxborough by seeking football advice from of all places the Alabama coaching staff.

Now going outside at all under the totally insular Bill Belichick house is a questionable activity at best. Going outside to Alabama’s staff and thinking it won’t get back to Belichick from his best buddy, Alabama head coach Nick Saban stretches the imagination.

Well, Jones went ahead and did so evidently anyway. Such was the extent evidently of his disaffection with the coaching he received and the offensive system instituted by inexperienced offensive coaches Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.

The Alabama contact caused the proverbial garbage hit the fan and now all sorts of rumors are flying about Jones’ future in New England.

Will the New England Patriots and Mac Jones part company?

Trade rumors are now being floated and one is new. The possible trade put out is of Mac Jones to the San Francisco 49ers for their young quarterback Trey Lance.

Mike Florio who recently broke the story that Bill Belichick was shopping Jones around the NFL has now followed that up by suggesting (maybe as a lark) the trade of Jones to San Francisco for Lance.

He had this to say as reported by nbcsports.com,

"While discussing his report on an emergency edition of Tom E. Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast, Florio threw out an interesting hypothetical: Jones to the San Francisco 49ers in return for fellow 2021 first-rounder Trey Lance.“How about Mac Jones for Trey Lance? Straight up. Wouldn’t that be something?” Florio told Curran and co-host Phil Perry.Florio initially said he was kidding, then noted the idea makes some sense on paper considering 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan nearly took Jones over Lance after trading up to the No. 3 pick in 2021."

This space is a firm believer that where there is smoke, as in Belichick’s reportedly shopping Jones, there is usually fire to such rumors. If so, what about a Jones for Trey Lance trade?

New England Patriots could use a dual-threat quarterback

Now Trey Lance came into the NFL with nice credentials and potential from North Dakota State, albeit from a smaller school, program. Admittedly, he was a favorite in this space because of that dual-threat aspect of his game.

It has been floated here that having such a quarterback can make up for a whole host of deficiencies and that’s why a trade for Lamar Jackson with Baltimore was looked upon as a very nice proposition indeed. It still is.

Now, Jones lacks escapability from the pocket, an attribute that is very nice to demonstrate when an offensive line either can’t or on a given play doesn’t perform well.

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Unfortunately, Lance’s stat lines in his first two NFL seasons have been basically non-existent, and not only is Jones the better alternative but any trade for Lance straight-up would be patently absurd.

Yet, if Jones is indeed actually in the proverbial Belichick doghouse, a trade, but not this trade is certainly not foolish or at all out of the realm of possibility.

Remember the Malcolm Butler situation as a prime example of a player, even a Super Bowl-winning player, evidently being in that doghouse and being not only kept out of a Super Bowl (perhaps costing the team that very big game) but then being summarily let go.

So while a Jones trade for Lance is ridiculous, some other trade isn’t necessarily out of the question. We’ll see.

One thing is clear, though, there’s never a dull moment in the New England Patriots house, doghouse or otherwise. And it’s one reason why being a fan of the team is such a great avocation.