In his first 49ers start, backup quarterback Mac Jones threw 26 of 39 ( 66 percent completion), 279 yards passing, and three touchdowns in the 49ers’ 26-21 win over the New Orleans Saints. Not too shabby, even if the Saints defense isn’t in the class of the Seattle Seahawks defense Brock Purdy faced a week ago.
But that doesn’t stop the questions of “Why did the 49ers pay Purdy that money?”
Sheesh.
OK, eaaaaaaasy there. There are several good reasons why the 49ers paid Purdy that money; two of them
are called the 49ers’ 2022 and 2023 seasons. A recent, more precise reason was Week 1, when Purdy had a terrible day and then stormed across Lumen Field in his final drive to take the lead.
And when you consider that, all we’ve seen of Mac Jones is him rolling up a New Orleans Saints team that is projected to be picking early in 2026. Folks, don’t ask that question. The New Orleans game is not a good reason to ask that question, especially when this is Jones’ third team in the NFL.
Brock Purdy got paid all of that money because he stepped right into the offense as a rookie and took the team to the NFC Championship game. Brock Purdy dug his team out of the following year’s NFC Championship and took them to the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Jones has been on three teams in four years. He made the playoffs as a rookie — and that was it. There’s a reason he’s a backup now. Yes, he dealt with tough circumstances and bad coaching, but don’t question whether he’s a plug-and-play quarterback in Kyle Shanahan’s system.
Now that said, Jones has a two-year contract, which could give the 49ers’ front office something to consider in a trade scenario for 2026. And if he does play well for however many games Purdy is out, that is an attractive situation for the 49ers.
So let’s talk more about Jones on Sunday. Sure, he completed passes, but he also had significantly more time to throw than Purdy had last week, yet there were moments he still couldn’t get rid of the ball. Not to mention he couldn’t do what Purdy does in these situations, which is scramble. Instead, he stands there. There were a few plays you know Purdy could have taken off and gotten a few first downs. Jones looked more Jimmy Garoppolo-esque just standing there. I mean, we’ve seen this play before.
And this isn’t a knock on Mac Jones. The 49ers clearly value the backup quarterback position, or they wouldn’t have signed him in the offseason. If the 49ers didn’t want to pay Brock Purdy that money and figured Jones would be an upgrade, it’s doubtful they’d even give Purdy that money to begin with.
And we all know what the next question is: Is this the beginning of a quarterback controversy? To save us the argument for the third, fourth, and fifth time we’ll be talking about this, no, no, and no.
And if Jones lights it up this week against the Arizona Cardinals? The 49ers still have a capable backup quarterback named Mac Jones, for whom we wish luck in Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jones came in as a backup quarterback and did his job. He got the 49ers a gritty win — one win, against a lackluster NFC South team, with his team injured. Impressive, but we await Purdy’s return with great anticipation.
