Mac Jones Says Josh McDaniels’ Exit Broke His Patriots Career

The story of Mac Jones and the New England Patriots always felt like it ended too fast. One year he’s a Pro Bowl rookie, the next he’s on the bench and eventually out the door. Now we have a clearer idea of what went wrong.

Jones sat down with the ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ podcast and pointed to one specific moment that derailed his time in Foxborough: Josh McDaniels leaving to become the Raiders’ head coach in 2022.

“That was kinda step one,” Jones said. “I think that really affected me because I felt like if I could have just built on the year before, it would have really helped me and everybody on the team.”

McDaniels was the offensive coordinator who helped Jones look like a franchise quarterback as a rookie in 2021. After that season, he took the Vegas job. And the Patriots handed the offense over to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge — a decision that pretty much everyone outside the building thought was a disaster from the jump.

Jones also talked about how things felt off with Bill Belichick during OTAs that spring. “Bill interviewed people, or whatever, and I don’t know, I just felt like we didn’t click during OTAs, and you could kind of see it trending (down).” He was a second-year player at the time, stuck in a weird spot. Not yet established enough to push back, but smart enough to know this wasn’t going to work.

Brian Hoyer, the veteran backup that year, saw it too. Jones said Hoyer was looking at him like “this is not going to be good.” And it wasn’t.

Jones never recaptured his rookie form in New England. He was traded to Jacksonville, started seven games in 2025 and won two, then ended up in San Francisco as Brock Purdy’s backup. Last season he started eight games for the 49ers and won five. Not bad for a guy who got thrown into a situation that was broken before he had a chance to grow.

Funny thing is, the Patriots storyline came back around. McDaniels returned to New England as offensive coordinator this offseason, and suddenly Drake Maye has a real OC to work with. Meanwhile Jones is in a perfect spot with Kyle Shanahan, learning from one of the best offensive minds in football.

Sometimes it really is just about the right fit. And for Jones, that fit disappeared the day McDaniels packed for Las Vegas.