B/R makes laughable trade proposal involving Jaguars QB Mac Jones

The Jacksonville Jaguars have one of the best quarterback rooms in the NFL. Trevor Lawrence is entrenched as the starter and looking to bounce back after a less-than-stellar 2023 campaign. Behind him is Mac Jones, who showed in the preseason that he can keep the offense afloat in case No. 16 misses time. The fact that he'll have a manageable cap hit makes it even better. However, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report thinks the Jags shouldn't hesitate to trade the Alabama product if given the chance.

Ballentine drew up a list of bold trades teams should make before the regular season and suggests Jacksonville listens to trade offers for Jones, pointing out that teams in need of quarterback help may be willing to pay a good price to acquire him.

"Jones looked like a much improved quarterback in preseason action with the Jaguars. He completed 38-of-52 passes for 421 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Obviously the level of competition drops in the exhibition games, but head coach Doug Pederson praised him for buying into the way they do things in Jacksonville and picking up the offense.

Those qualities, combined with his first-round pedigree, could be enough to force a team with a major quarterback injury to call the Jags and ask what their price would be for Jones."

As a rookie in 2021, Jones made the Pro Bowl and led the New England Patriots to the playoffs. However, questionable changes to the coaching staff hampered his development, and he was benched several times the past two seasons.

By the end of 2023, Jones' stock was at an all-time low and the Pats were ready to move on from him. The issue is that he had no trade market, so the Jags were able to acquire him in exchange for just a sixth-round pick.

In Jacksonville, Jones got a fresh start and has made the most out of it. Not only is he having the most fun he's had in a while but he's also looked like the talented quarterback he was early in his rookie career. In three preseason games, the 15th overall pick in the 2021 draft completed 73.1 percent of his passes for 421 yards with three touchdowns.

Jones is set to have a cap hit of $2.7 million in 2024. When you take into account that the best backup quarterbacks can make as much as $10 million per year, it's fair to say that the Jaguars have a bargain. The downside is that the Jacksonville native is slated to become a free agent in 2025, so he will probably be a one-year rental.

Grade the proposal: Would it make sense for the Jaguars to trade Mac Jones?

The backup quarterback is the second most important position on the football field. You want to have a good one in case the starter goes down. In the case of the Jacksonville Jaguars, they would probably worry if Trevor Lawrence missed considerable time but having Mac Jones around would lessen the blow. For that reason, trading him would be a questionable decision.

The Jags traded for Jones because they wanted to upgrade their backup quarterback situation. Last year, Lawrence dealt with a myriad of ailments and they came to a halt, losing five of their last six games. C.J. Beathard was QB2 at the time, and the team's brass didn't appear to have much confidence in him.

Jones competed with Beathard in the preseason for the backup job. The battle ended when the latter suffered a groin injury but even if he had stayed healthy, the former would've come out on top.

If Beathard hadn't sustained the injury, the Jaguars would've signed him to the practice squad, but because he's out for several weeks, the front office rolled with Swiss Army Knife John Rhys Plumlee instead, and that's the thing.

As promising as Rhys Plumlee is, the Jaguars will be in trouble if he has to take the field. The odds of that happening would increase considerably if they traded Jones. As noted before, they brought him in because they wanted to give their quarterback room a boost, and parting ways with him would leave the position devoid of depth.

Simply put, there's no way the Jaguars would trade Jones right now. Maybe if Beathard was still around and a team made an offer they couldn't refuse — let's say a second-round pick — it would make a bit of sense, but that's not the case.

Grade: F

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