At the end of a week when the San Francisco 49ers reached that ever-approaching lip of the salary cap waterfall and power-washed an expensive and aging roster of some key and even long-beloved players, they made some additions as well. These were functionally special teams' standouts and reserves, none particularly newsworthy. Yet one addition was more unexpected than the others, and that was Wednesday's signing of free-agent quarterback Mac Jones.
While Deebo Samuel, Kyle Juszczyk, Talanoa Hufanga, Dre Greenlaw, Charvarius Ward, and other notable stars were packed up and headed toward new destinations, Jones was flying in from the opposite direction and preparing himself to meet his new boss and mentor, 49ers' Head Coach Kyle Shanahan, the very man who—if you believe the rumor mill—was secretly trying hard to draft him four years ago. The move that hypothetically could have cost the 49ers those expensive picks that were squandered on Trey Lance—grabbing Mac Jones in the first round—was never made, and now that same quarterback is in San Francisco straight out of the bargain bin. It is indeed a wonderful and somewhat bizarre football world in which we exist.
The e-signature wasn't even uploaded from the last page of Jones' new contract Wednesday afternoon when the media began whipping up the narrative of a brewing quarterback controversy in San Francisco. Suddenly and without any rational justification, Jones was seen as a convenient tool of duress to be used against 49ers' quarterback Brock Purdy's negotiation position in contract talks, and as a hedge against Purdy's possible departure for greener and more lucrative pastures. While captivating, both ideas are functionally hogwash.
Are the 49ers and Purdy entering some adversarial waters in their relationship? And does the addition of Mac Jones to the quarterback room give the 49ers' front office an element of increased advantage in the Brock Purdy contract talks moving forward? The answer to each question is both a yes and no. The interaction between Purdy and the team has no more controversy involved than the contract discussions of any other player and team before them. At least not to this point. Teams want to spend as little as possible; players want to get as much as possible. That's not just football; that's Business Contracts 101.
Adding Jones, who has plenty of NFL starts, is a positive step for the team in gaining game insurance in the event Purdy, for whatever reason, isn't on the field. And Jones seems an obvious fit for Shanahan's style of offense. He was a fit back in 2021, though certainly a less appealing one than his more dynamic peers, and he fits the system still.
Jones doesn't have Purdy's skill set. He's not mobile or elusive. He's not as quick on his reads. He can make poor decisions under heavy pressure. Those are all things at which Purdy excels. But Jones can stay in the pocket where Shanahan wants him, deliver the ball on time where it's supposed to be, and move the ball downfield. 12-yard spiral, rinse and repeat. In some ways, he's a younger version of Jimmy Garoppolo, without the Las Vegas strip swag. Jones may flop elsewhere, but San Francisco isn't elsewhere, and Shanahan, like him or not, is a master at squeezing the most he can out of his quarterbacks.
To be sure, Jones' career so far has mostly followed the same rutted, muddy road as his draftee peers from 2021. Trey Lance has proven to be a football bust that nearly got Lynch and Shanahan fired, Justin Fields has gone through multiple football relationships without much more than a second date, and Zach Wilson has devolved into a human pachinko ball, bouncing from team to team trying to find a reserve job he can hold down. Trevor Lawrence, the Number One pick that year, has had some mild success with the Jaguars, but mild isn't great, regardless of whether you're discussing football or restaurant salsa.
If, after that NFL-wide 2021 quarterback draft disaster, the 49ers weren't convinced that they had caught lightning in a bottle with Purdy, there can't be any convincing them at all. Last year's disappointing season was a disaster for the 49ers across the board, but not much of it is attributable to Purdy as a player, and there's little factual basis for saying that Purdy suffered a substantial regression last year. Like the rest of the roster, he was off track, but that's a result of injuries, coaching, and just bad football luck, not evidence that Purdy has turned from Cinderella's carriage into a red-and-gold pumpkin. Purdy is still the same guy who got the 49ers past repeated post-season obstacles the past two years, and the 49ers know it.
Jones, for all his real or imagined deficiencies, started his NFL career decently with a nice rookie season in New England in 2021, where it seemed he might exceed draft expectations. He was then dropped into the swamp the next year when Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick remarkably let a defensive coach in Matt Patricia call offensive plays. That was a death punch to Jones' progress as a pro quarterback—one that he spent the next two years fighting unsuccessfully to overcome. He wound up in the Jaguars bullpen, and his time as a starter was over.
Objectively, it's hard to say with certainty whether Jones would be a better quarterback if he was given a path different than what he was forced to walk. But it seems logical that starting with Shanahan versus what he got in New England would have shaped him into a much better player. Jacksonville, too, has failed to develop Trevor Lawrence, and that may be a reason to be suspicious of the chances Jones has received so far. Bad offensive coaching more than Jones' limited talent, may have been the greater issue there. For Jones, a quarterback trying to recover from a slump under an incompetent offense in New England, Jacksonville was probably the worst place he could have gone.
Even giving Jones the benefit of the doubt, the idea that he poses an immediate or even an eventual threat to Purdy's status as the 49ers' starting quarterback is baseless. Jones has had no success that remotely compares to what Purdy has accomplished, and that seems to bring irrelevance to any idea that Jones is a suggested weapon of replacement for Brock Purdy as contract talks heat up. Jones is a backup. Full stop.
There's no doubt Purdy's agent Kyle Strongin held a slightly better edge last week when it looked like Purdy and second-year player Tanner Mordecai might be the only quarterbacks on the 49ers' roster entering the draft. But Strongin still has several points of advantage, as do Lynch and Company, who still control Purdy on his rookie deal. As such, Purdy's situation isn't much affected by the arrival of Jones. Purdy's got a relatively tight hold on the starting quarterback position by virtue of his game success, especially in the post-season. That fact cannot be overstated.
Those suggesting the 49ers are not all-in on Purdy are fooling themselves. The denser media opinions out there suggest they need to see more to properly evaluate Purdy's game. But the 49ers, and anyone else truly paying attention, should have seen plenty already. The question isn't whether the team wants Purdy under center, it's for how much. The addition of backup quarterbacks to push Purdy's competitive buttons is going to do little to shift the 49ers off of their intention to run with Purdy for the foreseeable future. Nor is it going to cause Strongin to sell Purdy at a discount.
Mac Jones is in San Francisco to potentially save a season from a Purdy injury, not from an anticipated Purdy departure. Jones may or may not live up to his potential, but he's more likely to live up to Shanahan's game plan needs than last year's backup throwers. And that's all that is expected with the move.
Brock Purdy is the 49ers starter. When all is said and done, he will get signed and at a figure with which both sides are at least modestly happy. Purdy will be ready to make a playoff run with a much younger, freshened roster, and will now have a backup that fits into the Shanahan system to a degree no other 49er QB2 has in quite a while. Regardless of which side of the Purdy contract argument you stand on, that's excellent progress.