The War on Mac Jones Takes a Bizarre Turn as He Gets Ripped Just for Being at Jerod Mayo's Press Conference

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I've seen Boston turn on its own before. I've watched once-admired and appreciated athletes become Masshole Enemy No. 1 in short order. It happened with the Chicken and Beer Red Sox of 2011. Tim Thomas. Antoine Walker. Tony Eason. And if I want to go way back to my childhood, Jim Plunkett.

One of the reasons I was glad on July 31st, 2004, even though I had to explain to two young sons who between them had about six Red Sox No. 5 jerseys that the team had traded Nomar Garciaparra, was because my boys' hero had become That Guy. He was the vessel into which a fanbase had poured all their frustration. But he was just the latest of such tragic figures. There was a long, unbroken string of them that traced all the way back to Ted Williams. And I was relieved we would be spared seeing how ugly it could get once fans decide one particular guy is the source of all out problems. 

But Nomar's demise took about seven years. From rookie with limitless potential to Sports Illustrated cover stud:

… to injury riddled seasons, to Selfish, Entitled, Egomaniac Who's the Reason We'll Never Win a World Series, in the span of just a few seasons. 

Which makes what's gone on with Mac Jones all the more astonishing. His Patriots career has followed the same arc as Nomar's, but on 16X fast forward. One career meltdown happened on slow simmer, the next was thrown into the microwave without a cover and exploded all over the inside like that one Gremlin. 

And for the life of me, I don't get it. I can see being frustrated with him. But this went way beyond mere frustration. 

After a rookie season that showed so much promise, one where he won the QB1 job over an accomplished veteran, Jones took a huge step backward instead of the coveted Year 2 jump. But there were extenuating circumstances, beginning with the fact he lost his very capable offensive coordinator and saw him replaced with a nepo hire who was supposed to be learning on the job but never did. Then he suffered a severe ankle injury. And by the time he returned to the lineup, Patriots fans had already turned on him. With a majority of them chanting his backup's name. And a crazy percentage of people quickly convinced themselves we were witnessing another Tom Brady/Drew Bledsoe scenario playing out. 

Until Bailey Zappe started throwing picks. A lot of picks. Then the Brady talk died down. But the pure vitriol directed at Jones never did. And this past year, as his mechanics began breaking down behind a chaotic offensive line and working with a marginal (at best) group of weapons, Jones quickly hit a Point of No Return with the fanbase. And, according to published reports, his team on the whole. 

Here's the most recent. When Jones showed up to Jerod Mayo's introductory press conference:

… I didn't think much of it. Other than to mention Patriots past and present were there, and wonder whether Jones qualifies as "past" or "present." But his mere presence in the room was enough to trigger some unnamed source in the organization:

NESN - Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard … who cited an anonymous team source, wrote Jones’ appearance “drew a chuckle.” 

“He was in his workout gear which is ironic since he cleared his entire locker at the end of the season. Not a single hanger. Completely empty. … I mean, come on man,” the team source told Bedard. “Everyone’s watched him play, they’ve watched him act like a prima donna. The team is sick of it, everyone’s sick of it.”

Though to be fair, there was this in response:

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Which is where we find ourselves at the moment. Where Jones' very existence is considered so toxic, that even the act of taking his stuff home at the end of the season is considered … what, exactly? An outrage? An act of defiance? Proof of his prima donnaishness? Clothes hanger thievery in the first degree? 

The guy was a fucking healthy scratch for the final game, on the roster only as the emergency third quarterback, behind a guy who got here about three weeks earlier. Yet we're supposed to sweat him putting his changes of clothes and photos of his girlfriend in a box for the offseason? Someone in the organization saw him packing up his personal belongings as evidence he's an irredeemable diva who's hated by his entire locker room. Seriously, what am I missing? 

As inconsequential as this might seem to me, it's just another in a series of weird reports about McCorkle. None that have any source attaching their name to it. Including, though not limited to:

--Belichick never wanted to draft him in 2021 in the first place. He was content to [insert name of successful draft pick here] and wait for Davis Mills to fall to him later on. But ownership forced his hand.

--Belichick wanted to trade Jones last year and sign Baker Mayfield. But ownership forced his hand. 

--Belichick wanted to stick with Matt Patricia as OC and build on the "progress" he was making at the end of 2022, and develop Bailey Zappe, but … you don't need me to finish that sentence. 

--In the Patriots quarterback primary, Zappe has been winning in a landslide, with 80% of the vote among registered teammates. 

With all due respect to the people reporting this stuff, I believe very strongly in the likelihood it's all horseshit. Or mostly horseshit. Not that people aren't telling the reporters like Greg Bedard the things they are reporting. Just that the organization is in a turbulent time of widespread change. And when that's the group dynamic, you either hear total lies or partial truths exaggerated until they're basically lies. This is civil war, with jobs and futures on the line. And the first casualty of war is always the truth. 

And yet, for Mac Jones, the degree to which any of this is true is secondary. Irrelevant, even. Perception is reality. And the perception of him is such that someone he's ostensibly been working with thinks the simple act of him coming out of the gym to stand in the back of the room and hear his new head coach talk (and with a year still to go on his rookie deal, Mayo IS his head coach until further notice), is something a prima donna would do. Something "everyone's sick of." So much so, that it warrants running to a reporter to make it public and damage Jones' brand. Even more than his sacks and interceptions have. 

I don't see any way Jones can come back from this. People are actively out to ruin him. And Patriots fans have been all too willing to think the worst of him for the last season and a half, if not more. I've been a big Mac supporter since before the Pats were even in a position to draft him. But I'd like to see this misery end sooner, rather than later. Then hope he find success elsewhere, the way Plunkett did. And that the team finds success after he's gone the way the 2004 Red Sox did. Because this is only going to get worse until he's gone.