Mac Jones Makes Surprising Appearance on Patriots Depth Chart

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick insists that Cam Newton will start games for the Patriots in the 2021 NFL season. But, NFL experts believe that rookie Mac Jones will step in as a replacement for Newton, and some of them discussed the current Patriots depth chart.

We have a really good reason to believe that Jones is standing in Newton’s rear-view mirror. In the first two seasons of Organized Team Activities, Jones looked like the No.2 on the depth chart.

Mac Jones stands behind Cam Newton on the Patriots depth chart

The No.15 overall went after Newton in every drill and 7-on-7. That’s the spot for backup quarterbacks.

Jeff Howe from The Athletic talked about Jones’ performance. Let’s not forget that these are the first days of OTAs.

“Mac Jones worked as the No. 2 quarterback for the majority of practice. While this might seem obvious or a foregone conclusion, look at it from this angle: This was the first practice in front of the media, with seven of 10 OTAs behind closed doors. Belichick could have put Jones third or fourth in the pecking order to portray the first-rounder’s long climb up the depth chart, just two weeks after rookie camp, to stymie the Jones hype train in the media. Or Belichick could have used Jones as the No. 2 QB in the seven closed practices and rotated him from the bottom in the three open workouts to deliver the same message to anyone outside the team.

“Instead, this is a public portrayal that Jones is already the second-best quarterback on the roster. And while Jones absolutely should be, at minimum, the second-best QB on the roster, this indicates he’s off to a nice start in the coaches’ eyes, and there’s no need for semantics with the depth chart.”

Head coach Belichick placed Jones in this spot for a good reason. Placing a rookie at No.2 causes a stir in the media and Belichick knew that really well.

This is more like a warning for Newton. Belichick warned him that there’s a contender for the starting position who is working really hard to replace him.

We know what happened in 2020. Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer weren’t really contenders for Newton’s job.