{"id":262472,"date":"2026-01-11T10:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T15:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=262472"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:59:41","slug":"jets-should-consider-trading-for-former-for-quarterback-mac-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/01\/11\/jets-should-consider-trading-for-former-for-quarterback-mac-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets Should Consider Trading for Former First-Round Pick QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco 49ers might trade quarterback Mac Jones this offseason. If so, the New York Jets make sense as a landing spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones isn’t an elite signal-caller by any stretch of the imagination. However, he’s a solid player who can make the 3-14<\/a> Jets a better football team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jets Should Consider Trading for Quarterback Mac Jones<\/span><\/h2>\n

Looking Back at His Career<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>
\nMac Jones played three seasons of college football at Alabama. He\u00a0<\/span>put together a superb junior season, throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. Jones <\/span>impressively posted a 203.1 passer rating and a 77.4 completion percentage, both NCAA season records. He also won the Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, and Manning Awards.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Jones finished third for the Heisman Trophy and led Alabama to a national championship. He recorded 464 passing yards and five touchdowns in the championship game as the Crimson Tide beat Ohio State 52-24.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mac Jones then chose to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft. The New England Patriots selected<\/a> him 15th overall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones had a great rookie season, starting all 17 games. He threw for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns while leading the Patriots to a 10-7 record. Jones also made the Pro Bowl and <\/span>finished second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting behind Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>. He led the Patriots to the playoffs although they lost to the Buffalo Bills 47-17 in the Wild Card round.<\/span><\/p>\n

After his rookie year, Jones regressed and eventually lost his starting job. He was traded to his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> in March 2024. Jones <\/span>started seven games for the Jaguars, filling in for Trevor Lawrence. He threw for 1,672 yards and eight touchdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 49ers then signed<\/a> Jones in 2025. He made eight starts this season, replacing injured starter Brock Purdy. Jones finished with 2,151 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why the Jets Should Trade for Him<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Jets failed to land the top pick in the 2026 draft. That means they won’t be able to select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza<\/a>. The Heisman Trophy winner is expected to become a superstar. The Las Vegas Raiders, who own the first overall pick, will more than likely draft Mendoza unless something really crazy happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holding the second overall pick, the Jets could take Oregon quarterback Dante Moore<\/a> (if he declares). While Moore has the potential to be a star, it doesn’t appear that he’s ready for the NFL just yet. With that said, the team should trade back for more picks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jets need to acquire Mac Jones instead. <\/span>He’d be a major upgrade over the team’s trio of quarterbacks this season (Justin Fields<\/a>, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook).<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones would also be a cheap pickup, as he <\/span>has a salary cap hit of just under $4 million. He could serve as an excellent bridge quarterback if the Jets decide to draft a first-round signal-caller in 2027 instead of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mac Jones revived his career in San Francisco, and it seems like he’s ready to be a full-time starter again. It’s unclear what the Jets would have to trade for him. But they should definitely consider him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This offseason, trading for the 49ers\u2019 Mac Jones makes a ton of sense for the quarterback-needy New York Jets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":247904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,6],"tags":[33772,33710,7261,7330],"class_list":["post-262472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-jets","tag-dante-moore","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-mac-jones","tag-new-york-jets-news"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262472"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262587,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262472\/revisions\/262587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}