Where there’s smoke, there is fire. And for as much as the San Francisco 49ers brass wants to tell us they would like to keep Mac Jones around as Brock Purdy’s backup, the NFL landscape will likely dictate whether that happens.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk discussed when the potential window for a trade would take place recently:
“I think he’s a guy who potentially could be traded to a team that develops a need at the quarterback position between Week 1 and the Tuesday after Week 9, because who knows
who’s going to get injured. There was a year, I think it was 2023, when quarterbacks were dropping like flies.”
Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert, Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, Aaron Rodgers, and Deshaun Watson all sustained injuries that ended their season in 2023.
It goes without saying that nobody is rooting for injuries, but the phone could start ringing for John Lynch and the Niners if we see several banged-up quarterbacks, or young ones who fail to develop on potential playoff teams.
Florio continued:
“Some years, injuries to starting quarterbacks are minimal, but that may be when the window opens for someone to trade for Mac Jones. And if the injury happens during training camp or the preseason, quarterback injuries are typically rare in training camp because quarterbacks can’t be touched.
But he’ll be a free agent in March 2027, and I think at that time, especially if he plays this year and plays well again, he’ll be one of the candidates to go somewhere and compete to be a starter, or at a minimum, be the guy who arrives as the starter until six weeks later when the team uses a first-round draft pick on the player they hope will be the long-term answer.“
If Jones ends up playing early in the season because of a Brock Purdy injury, then there is zero chance that the team would trade him. Brock would need to be rolling with everything on the team clicking, and Jones would be more of an afterthought.
No real new information here, other than another talking head saying there’s a chance Jones will be traded due to the obvious. And it’s not as if Florio gave us a concentrated window. Nope. He said from the start of the season to the end of the trade deadline. Thanks for that.
