Jaguars QB Mac Jones gets low spot in ranking despite thrilling preseason showing

The Jacksonville Jaguars expect Trevor Lawrence to lead them to the promised land in 2024. But if No. 16 has to miss time, Mac Jones is ready to step up. A former Pro Bowl nod, the Alabama product showed in the preseason that he can still play at a high level even though he's coming off a couple of underwhelming campaigns. However, that wasn't enough to get him a high spot in a recent backup ranking.

Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report recently ranked all NFL backup quarterbacks by tiers. He placed Jones in Tier 3, "Serviceable Backups with Glaring Flaws or Limitations." Regarding the choice, Moton acknowledges that the Jacksonville native has a Pro Bowl nod in his resume but has struggled the past two years and lacks the escapability skills to avoid the heat.

"Jones has a 2021 Pro Bowl year on his resume, but after a solid rookie campaign, his completion rate, average passing yards per game and touchdown pass rate have all trended in the wrong direction. He lacks the mobility to buy time against an aggressive pass rush, too."

Other quarterbacks who landed in Tier 3 were Drew Lock (New York Giants), Davis Mills (Houston Texans), Nick Mullens (Minnesota Vikings), and Aidan O'Connell (Las Vegas Raiders). All of them are either career backups or flopped when they were given a chance to show what they could do.

Meanwhile, Kenny Pickett (Philadelphia Eagles), Joshua Dobbs (San Francisco 49ers), Jake Browning (Cincinnati Bengals), Mason Rudolph (Tennessee Titans), and Tyrod Taylor (New York Jets) made it to Tier 2.

Taylor is certainly a vested veteran who can win games coming off the bench. Browning also came through for Cincy when they needed him in 2023. However, Pickett, Dobbs, and Rudolph have all struggled under the spotlight and it's fair to wonder whether any of them are better than Jones currently is. This is to say that the Jaguars' backup quarterback should've earned a higher spot in the ranking.

Granted, Jones was benched several times the past two years. While he deserves some of the blame, the New England Patriots most definitely mismanaged his development when they appointed Matt Patricia, a long-time defensive coach, to oversee their offense. That, along with his former team's inability to get him weapons contributed to his less-than-stellar play.

Nevertheless, the Jags took a flyer on the 15th overall pick in the 2021 draft and he's quickly gotten back on track. Besides regaining his confidence, Jones showed that he's still got it, completing 73.1 percent of his passes for 418 yards with three touchdowns in three preseason outings.

The "Energizer" Mac Jones has been everything the Jaguars expected

So far, Mac Jones has been everything the Jaguars expected when they acquired him in exchange for a sixth-round selection. General manager Trent Baalke told the media on cutdown day that they knew the fourth-year quarterback was coming off a rough stretch but he's managed to get out of the funk in Jacksonville.

"We all felt it was," Baalke responded when he was asked what the team has gotten out of Jones, "The staff was heavily involved in it, the coaching staff. We felt we were getting a guy that's played high-level football in this league. Sometimes things turn a different way. They go through a bad stretch, but Mac's in a real good place. He's a good football player. He loves football. He loves being in the building. He's an energizer. We got exactly what we thought we were going to get."

Jones competed with C.J. Beathard for the backup job behind Trevor Lawrence. The battle came to an end when Beathard suffered a groin injury in Week 2 of the preseason. With him out for several weeks, Jones is now QB2 on the depth chart.

But even if Beathard hadn't suffered the groin injury, Jones certainly did enough to come out on top. Now, he gets to back up Lawrence while he rebuilds his stock.

If things go as planned though, Mac Jones will never play a down for the Jaguars and will be a one-year rental in Jacksonville. That said, the team's brass must feel great about having a player of his caliber in the mix, even if they don't intend to use him.

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