Mac Jones faces high expectations entering his second season with the New England Patriots, and one former NFL general manager is very bullish on the young quarterback as training camps near.
ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum, who worked as the New York Jets GM from 2006 through 2012, said Wednesday on morning show "Get Up!" that Jones is a sneaky league MVP candidate this coming season.
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SIGN UP HERE "This is a team with two great running backs, two great tight ends, a really good offensive line and, in my opinion, a slightly underrated wide receiver corps," Tannenbaum said later in the show.
"So I think the CEO of Bill Belichick will manage his team, they'll have a great kicking game like always, and I think they have a young superstar at the quarterback position, who led the team last year to the playoffs, and they scored more points than the Patriots did with Tom Brady the year before."
Jones was the top rookie quarterback in the league last season.
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He completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Jones started all 17 regular season games and helped the Patriots earn an AFC wild card playoff berth with a 10-7 record. Their playoff run was short lived in a blowout loss to the rival Buffalo Bills on Wild Card Weekend.
The AFC is absolutely loaded entering the 2022 season, especially at the quarterback position with Matt Ryan (Colts) and Russell Wilson (Broncos) coming over from the NFC.
Making the playoffs is going to be far more difficult for the Patriots this season than it was in 2021. It's hard to envision Jones being a serious MVP candidate unless the Patriots win the AFC East. And even in that scenario, is he getting more MVP votes than Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes?
If Jones leads the Patriots back to the playoffs for a second consecutive season, that will be impressive enough. Being a dark horse MVP candidate would just be gravy on top of that.
