Forgive & Forget? Senior Bowl Director Refuses to Blame Patriots Mac Jones

Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy refuses to believe that Mac Jones' New England Patriots' downfall was his own doing.

As a longtime NFL scout and the current director of the Senior Bowl, Jim Nagy has seen his share of football stars before they got famous ... or infamous.

That's what has made the professional career of Mac Jones so puzzling to Nagy: somehow the New England Patriots quarterback has already landed in both categories. But the good times, namely that sole season where he looked to be a legitimate heir to the Tom Brady throne, are distant memories.

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Speaking on WEEI's Gersh and Fauria program, Nagy refused to believe that Jones is solely responsible for his downfall, which saw him benched for the final six games of his third, and presumably final, season in Foxborough.

"From the outside looking in, I see a guy that played at a really high level as a rookie and a guy that's like, wired the right way, total gym rat, like football junkie, and there's not many of those anymore. (He's) ultra competitive," Nagy noted. 

"How does that guy fall off? ... Like to the point where now he probably has to go somewhere else and reset his career? You tell me what happened over the last two years. Like not many rookies come into the league and play the way Mac played ... To me, what happened up there is not on Mac Jones."

Patriots brass apparently agreed with Nagy's assessment: while Jones has more than likely played his final down in Foxborough, his fall from grace served as one of the last straws of the Bill Belichick era, as New England will start completely fresh with a new head coach and offensive coordinator ... and, of course, a new franchise quarterback.

The Patriots will take a vested interest in the next Senior Bowl on Feb. 3, as they'll probably be busy searching for Jones' successor in the franchise quarterback spot. Jones was one of the most touted prospects of the 2021 showcase in Mobile. 

While he did not appear in the game itself (which featured fellow future Patriot Rhamondre Stevenson), a solid showing of practice convinced the Patriots to use the 15th pick of the ensuing draft. He was the fifth quarterback chosen behind Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville), Zach Wilson (NY Jets), Trey Lance (San Francisco), and Justin Fields (Chicago). 

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This time around, New England owns the third overall pick come the spring. Notable passing prospect participants in Nagy's showcase include Sam Hartman (Notre Dame), Joe Milton III (Tennessee), Bo Nix (Oregon), and Michael Penix (Washington). The 2024 NFL Draft will be held April 25-27 in Detroit.